Dear Marcus, what are your ...

Dear Parimal, an excerpt from the text you are referring to: quoting Ramaswamy R. Iyer, Steering Committee on Water, Government of India from his text on "Virtual Water: some reservations" (http://www.globalwaterforum.org/2012/05/14/virtual-water-some-reservations/)"...I am not arguing against the concept of ‘virtual water’ as a means of promoting an awareness of the water implications of the production or export of certain commodities or products. It is indeed very useful for that purpose. The concept is also a useful adjunct to that of ‘water footprint’." Here my comment: I am first stating the definition that describes the relationship between virtual water and water footprint, which aids in this discussion: The virtual-water content of a product is the freshwater ‘embodied’ in the product, not in real sense, but in virtual sense. It refers to the volume of water consumed or polluted for producing the product, measured over its full production chain. If a nation exports/imports such a product, it exports/imports water in virtual form. The ‘virtual-water content of a product’ is the same as ‘the water footprint of a product’, but the former refers to the water volume embodied in the product alone, while the latter term refers to that volume, but also to which sort of water is being used and to when and where that water is being used. The water footprint of a product is thus a multidimensional indicator, whereas virtual-water content refers to a volume alone. The concept of virtual water has been developed by Prof Allan in the early 90's and ever since there was a strong evolution of the concept. Prof. Hoekstra developed the water footprint concept in 2002. Prof. Allan uses the data that were derived by Prof. Hoekstra's research group in his book "Virtual Water: Tackling the treat to our planet's most precious resource" (Allan, 2011). (link to publisher website: bit.ly/mo1Hyn) The water footprint concept has developed to water footprint assessment, which is described in the water footprint assessment manual in full detail: http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/WaterFootprintAssessmentManual This assessment comprises three steps: (i) setting goals and scope; (ii) quantify and locate the water footprint of a process, product, producer or consumer or to quantify in space and time the water footprint in a specified geographic area; (iii) assess the environmental, social and economic sustainability of this water footprint; and (vi) formulate a response strategy. The range of applications is broad. But uptake of new insight is a slow process. The potential of Water Footprint Assessment in policy making is grossly underestimated. The argument often used: it has not been demonstrated. The strength of the concept in awareness raising has been proven and acknowledged, there are numerous applications in assessing product and business water footprint, water footprint of regions, nations, etc., its contribution to improved policy making not yet fully - but in some countries the process has begun. It requires governments to adopt the idea and explore. There is sufficient evidence that Water Footprint Assessment will be a powerfull tool to enrich policy making. A few references to illustrate this: Zeng, Z., Liu, J., Koeneman, P.H., Zarate, E. and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2012) Assessing water footprint at river basin level: a case study for the Heihe River Basin in northwest China, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16: 2771-2781. Mekonnen, M.M., Hoekstra, A.Y. and Becht, R. (2012) Mitigating the water footprint of export cut flowers from the Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya, Water Resources Management, 26: 3725–3742. Hoekstra, A.Y. and Mekonnen, M.M. (2012) From water footprint assessment to policy, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(22): E1425. Ercin, A.E., Mekonnen, M.M and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2012) The water footprint of France, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 56, UNESCO-IHE. Fader, M., Gerten, D., Thammer, M., Heinke, J., Lotze-Campen, H., Lucht, W. and Cramer, W. (2011) Internal and external green-blue agricultural water footprints of nations, and related water and land savings through trade, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 15(5): 1641-1660. Aldaya, M.M., Martinez-Santos, P. and Llamas, M.R. (2010) Incorporating the water footprint and virtual water into policy: Reflections from the Mancha Occidental Region, Spain, Water Resources Management 24(5): 941-958. Hoekstra, A.Y. (2013) The water footprint of modern consumer society, Routledge, London, UK. All those references and more information can be found at: http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/Publications The next steps require visionary people in governments taking the ideas further in practice. The richness of the science of Water Footprint Assessment as it stands today should be applied. There is no time to waste. Prof. Allan also calls in his book for action. You may also be interested in the upcoming publication of Prof. Hoekstra related to this ("The water footprint of modern consumer society": http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781849713030/). The Water Footprint Network (www.waterfootprint.org) is very active and maybe you can also contribute - or maybe you are already contributing in various ways. If so, then please share your experiences. It is fabulous to read about the work that is ongoing worldwide and to possibly collaborate on sustainable appropriation of the globe's freshwater resources. Best regards, Markus

Published January 29, 2013 09:25 by Markus Pahlow, University of Canterbury - Senior Lecturer

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