Unfolding the Potential of the Virtual Water Concept. What is Still Under Debate?

Unfolding the Potential of the Virtual Water Concept. What is Still Under Debate? PDF Author: Marta Antonelli
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The concept of virtual water refers to the volume of water used in the production of a commodity or a service. The concept was identified by the geographer Tony Allan in the early 1990s, to draw attention on the global economic processes that ameliorate local water deficits in the MENA region and elsewhere. Since its inception, the virtual water concept has inspired a flourishing literature on how to address global water resource scarcity vis-à-vis commodity production and consumption in a variety of disciplines, but also has been the object of a number of critiques. Against this backdrop, the aim of the study is, first, to conduct a thorough review of the conceptual definition of the concept, its critics and applications. Secondly, to analyse its theoretical underpinnings and, in particular, its relationship with economic theory. The study argues that, despite not being a policy tool itself, the virtual water concept can reveal aspects related to production, consumption and trade in goods which monetary indicators do not capture. Its potential as an indicator for informing decision-making in water management and policy, as well as commodity trade policy, still has to be fully unfolded.

Unfolding the Potential of the Virtual Water Concept. What is Still Under Debate?

Unfolding the Potential of the Virtual Water Concept. What is Still Under Debate? PDF Author: Marta Antonelli
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The concept of virtual water refers to the volume of water used in the production of a commodity or a service. The concept was identified by the geographer Tony Allan in the early 1990s, to draw attention on the global economic processes that ameliorate local water deficits in the MENA region and elsewhere. Since its inception, the virtual water concept has inspired a flourishing literature on how to address global water resource scarcity vis-à-vis commodity production and consumption in a variety of disciplines, but also has been the object of a number of critiques. Against this backdrop, the aim of the study is, first, to conduct a thorough review of the conceptual definition of the concept, its critics and applications. Secondly, to analyse its theoretical underpinnings and, in particular, its relationship with economic theory. The study argues that, despite not being a policy tool itself, the virtual water concept can reveal aspects related to production, consumption and trade in goods which monetary indicators do not capture. Its potential as an indicator for informing decision-making in water management and policy, as well as commodity trade policy, still has to be fully unfolded.

Water Resources

Water Resources PDF Author: Alexander Lane
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118793900
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book Here

Book Description
Over 7 billion people demand water from resources that the changing climate is making more and more difficult to harness. Water scarcity and shortage are increasingly common and conditions are becoming more extreme. Inadequate and inappropriate management of water is already taking its toll on the environment and on the quality of life of millions of people. Modern water professionals have a duty to develop sound water science and robust evidence to lobby and influence national and regional development policy and investment priorities. We need to be bold and brave to challenge the status quo, argue the case for change, and create a New Water Architecture. Water Resources: A New Water Architecture takes a unique approach to the challenges of water management. The stress caused by our desire to live, eat, and consume is examined in the context of Governance, the role of policy, and the commercial world. The authors share their nine-step vision for a New Water Architecture. Written by three industry practitioners, this book provides students, young professionals, policymakers, and those interested in the sustainability of our natural resources with a pragmatic and compelling perspective on how to manage the ultimate resource of our time.

Trade in Water Under International Law

Trade in Water Under International Law PDF Author: Fitzgerald Temmerman
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 178536913X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Get Book Here

Book Description
It is clear that more sustainable and efficient use of fresh water resources will become crucial in future global water management to avoid major threats to biological life. Trade in Water Under International Law offers a careful and well-reasoned introduction and analysis of this emerging and largely unchartered subject of international trade law, which has hitherto been of key importance in domestic law and policy, exploring the potential and limits of addressing the use of water resources in the context of World Trade Organization law.

Practicing Circular Economy

Practicing Circular Economy PDF Author: Prasad Modak
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000405362
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358

Get Book Here

Book Description
Introduces evolution of circlar economy to clarify the concept from engineering perspective Gives global overview of adoption of circlar economy covering Japan, Korea, China, EU, North Americas and Australia Emphasizes on pertinent case studies Provide examples of circular economy practices in manufacturing and services and give insights to business models and financing Presents comprehensive overview of wide-ranging and highly interconnected paradigms, such as supply chains, eco-design, businesses models and reverse logistics

Global environmental footprints

Global environmental footprints PDF Author: Peters, Glen P.
Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers
ISBN: 9289346302
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Get Book Here

Book Description
Emissions and resources are typically allocated to national territories. There has been increased interest in allocating environmental flows to the final consumption of goods and services. The resulting "environment footprints" are particularly relevant for global environmental problems in a globalised world. Developed countries generally have larger environmental footprints than their national territorial flows, and the gap has tended to increase over the last two decades. Consequently, some have argued that environmental policies should address the environmental footprint. Despite the potential policy relevance, there has been relatively little research on policy applications. While environmental footprints have many advantages, policy applications are limited by estimation and interpretation uncertainty, and by the lack of a clear policy motivation.

The Human Right to Water and International Economic Law

The Human Right to Water and International Economic Law PDF Author: Roberta Greco
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000217469
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book discusses the international right to water and the liberalization of water services. It is concerned with the harmonization of the right to water with the legal systems under which liberalization of water services has taken or may take place. It assesses paths of harmonization between international human rights law and international economic law in this specific field. The issue of the compatibility between the fulfilment of the right to water and the liberalization of water services has been at the heart of a passionate public debate between opponents and advocates of the privatization of the utility. The book provides an unbiased analysis of different international legal regimes under which the liberalization of water services has occurred or is likely to occur, notably international investment law, international trade law and European Union law, in order to assess whether the main features of the right to water can be guaranteed under each of these systems of law and whether there is space for prospective harmonization. The work will be an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of International Human Rights Law, International Economic Law, International Water Law, International Trade Law and EU Law.

Routledge Handbook of Food as a Commons

Routledge Handbook of Food as a Commons PDF Author: Jose Luis Vivero-Pol
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351665510
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 591

Get Book Here

Book Description
From the scientific and industrial revolution to the present day, food – an essential element of life – has been progressively transformed into a private, transnational, mono-dimensional commodity of mass consumption for a global market. But over the last decade there has been an increased recognition that this can be challenged and reconceptualized if food is regarded and enacted as a commons. This Handbook provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of knowledge and new thinking on how food and food systems can be thought, interpreted and practiced around the old/new paradigms of commons and commoning. The overall aim is to investigate the multiple constraints that occur within and sustain the dominant food and nutrition regime and to explore how it can change when different elements of the current food systems are explored and re-imagined from a commons perspective. Chapters do not define the notion of commons but engage with different schools of thought: the economic approach, based on rivalry and excludability; the political approach, recognizing the plurality of social constructions and incorporating epistemologies from the South; the legal approach that describes three types of proprietary regimes (private, public and collective) and different layers of entitlement (bundles of rights); and the radical-activist approach that considers the commons as the most subversive, coherent and history-rooted alternative to the dominant neoliberal narrative. These schools have different and rather diverging epistemologies, vocabularies, ideological stances and policy proposals to deal with the construction of food systems, their governance, the distributive implications and the socio-ecological impact on Nature and Society. The book sparks the debate on food as a commons between and within disciplines, with particular attention to spaces of resistance (food sovereignty, de-growth, open knowledge, transition town, occupations, bottom-up social innovations) and organizational scales (local food, national policies, South–South collaborations, international governance and multi-national agreements). Overall, it shows the consequences of a shift to the alternative paradigm of food as a commons in terms of food, the planet and living beings.

Water Law, Policy and Economics in Italy

Water Law, Policy and Economics in Italy PDF Author: Paolo Turrini
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303069075X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 508

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the most important water-related issues that centre on Italy, analysed from several disciplinary perspectives – such as hydrology, economics, law, sociology, environmental sciences and policy studies – in order to promote full understanding of the challenges the country is facing and the ways it could best tackle them. Despite the misconception that Italy is a water-scarce country, is in fact quite rich in water resources. Such resources, however, are unevenly distributed over the Italian territory. Italy’s northern regions rely on quite an abundant quantity of freshwater, whereas in the southern area water endowment is limited. Moreover, climatic differences between North and South contribute to widen the divide. This disparity has notable consequences of socio-economic character, some of which, in turn, feed back into the environmental conditions of Italian regions: pollution, floods, landslides and droughts are among the problems affecting the country. There are numerous features of water use and consumption that distinguish Italy from other comparable countries, such as the significant role played by agriculture (a water-intensive activity), a lead position in the consumption of bottled water, lower-than-average prices of water and a far-from-optimal efficiency of waterworks. All such aspects, and many others, make Italy an essential case study.

Handbook of Climate Change Across the Food Supply Chain

Handbook of Climate Change Across the Food Supply Chain PDF Author: Walter Leal Filho
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030879348
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 490

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents climate change as a global phenomenon which affects the entire food chain. Many studies analyzing environmental impacts of food systems confirm significant effects of food production on climate change. Most of them associate primary production with emission of greenhouse gasses identified as one of the causes resulting in warming the atmosphere and global climate effects. A wider perspective shows that the food chains start at farms with consumers being at the end of the pipeline. This approach emphasizes the role of the entire food chain highlighting different kinds of environmental impacts affecting climate change. On the other side, temperature changes and variations of precipitation patterns, together with extreme weather events and water reduction, are recognized as predictors for producing less food, decreased food quality, new food safety risks, biodiversity losses, and depletion of resources associated with food production in modified circumstances. Last but not least, these effects introduce new threats known as food security where some assumptions stress that almost one billion of people are hungry not receiving enough food as a result of climate changes. As a result, the UN highlights the need for combating climate change and promotes sustainable (food) consumption and production. Based on the perceived need to promote and disseminate information on climate change related to food system, the “Handbook of Climate change across the food supply chain” is being produced. The publication compiles information, experiences, practical initiatives, and projects around the subject matter and makes it available to a wide audience. It is expected that the “Handbook of Climate change across the food supply chain” makes many benefits of climate service clearer and, inter alia, leads to an increase in the demand for such important services.

The concept of virtual water as a policy tool?

The concept of virtual water as a policy tool? PDF Author: Kristina Kirfel
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640958918
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : de
Pages : 21

Get Book Here

Book Description
Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich VWL - Umweltökonomie, Note: 1,3, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Environmental and Resource Economics), Veranstaltung: Land and Water Management, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Water is distributed unevenly over the globe, making it scarce in many regions of the world. This scarcity is projected to increase significantly due to rapid population growth and increasing per capita affluence, leading to higher per capita water consumption. Global climate change may be an additional factor intensifying water shortness in some regions due to an increasing number of drought events. As water scarcity immediately effects agricultural production, food supply is at risk of becoming insecure in countries poorly endowed with water. ALLAN introduced the concept of virtual water in mid 1990s, stressing that import of food crops and thereby of virtual water could be the solution to water scarcity and food insecurity in water deficient countries (see ALLAN, 1996). Meanwhile, the trade of virtual water is strongly promoted in the water resources literature as a policy tool serving to enhance global water use efficiency, release pressure on nations’ short water resources, ensure food security, and even to prevent wars over water (see ALLAN, 1998, p.545). This is supported by the suggestion that food staples are readily available on the world market at prices undercutting the costs of production (see ALLAN, 1996, p.1, YANG AND ZEHNDER, 2002, p.1422). Following its potential benefits, ALLAN even called it ‘‘the dream solution in water-stressed economies’’ (see ALLAN, 2002, cited in ROTH AND WARNER, 2007, p.258). This paper aims at calling attention to the limitations of the concept and the adverse effects virtual water trade can have on the exporting aswell as on the importing countries. While the implementation of virtual water trade may lead to the desired outcome in terms of water savings, it may be socially, economically, and environmentally detrimental, if its many implications are not taken into account and economic and social adjustments to it are lacking. The paper is structured as follows: in chapter 2, the concept of virtual water will be explained by its definition and application to international trade, thereby highlighting its potential in water saving. Chapter 3 is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between water scarcity and virtual water trade, showing that water scarcity is only in few cases the driver of importing water-intensive commodities. [...]