Global Food Trade Can Alleviate Water Scarcity

International trade of food crops led to freshwater savings worth 2.4 billion US-Dollars in 2005 and had a major impact on local water stress.  Trading food involves the trade of virtually embedded water used for production, and the amount of that water depends heavily on the climatic conditions in the production region:  It takes, for instance, 2.700 liters of water to produce 1 kilo of cereals in Morocco, while the same kilo produced in Germany uses up only 520 liters.  Analyzing the impact of trade on local water scarcity, our scientists found that it is not the amount of water used that counts most, but the origin of the water.

"Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of our global freshwater consumption and therefore has a huge potential to affect local water scarcity," lead author Anne Biewald says.  The amount of water used in the production of agricultural export goods is referred to as virtual water trade.  So far, however, the concept of virtual water could not identify the regional water source, but used national or even global averages instead.  "Our analysis shows that it is not the amount of water that matters, but whether global food trade leads to conserving or depleting water reserves in water-scarce regions," Biewald says.

Global Food Trade Can Alleviate Water Scarcity