National water footprint in an input–output framework—A case study of China 2002

Abstract Water footprint is an indicator showing the consumption impact on environment with water equivalent, which allows a detailed quantification of water use directly and indirectly in sectors for the domestic and abroad final consumption. This paper presents a framework of calculating national water footprint (NWF) with input–output method on China 2002. The results indicated that the NWF of China was 381 m3/cap yr in 2002. A new indicator termed as national water footprint intensity (NWFI) is also derived from NWF to evaluate the water consumption intensities of different sectors. Then the evaluation of virtual water trade in sectors is followed, the results of which give a detailed quantification of net virtual water import of sectors, verifying that China is a net virtual water exporter concerning the whole national sectors, which is different from the previous studies. Finally, it is suggested that the sectors with high NWFI and volume of net virtual water export should be regarded as the priority of Chinese water-saving strategy.

[1]  Klaus Hubacek,et al.  Assessment of regional trade and virtual water flows in China , 2007 .

[2]  D. Zimmer,et al.  Virtual water in food production and global trade : Review of methodological issues and preliminary results , 2003 .

[3]  Lewis R. Gale,et al.  Trade Liberalization and Pollution: An Input–Output Study of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Mexico , 1995 .

[4]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  Water footprints of nations: Water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern , 2006 .

[5]  Jiun-Jiun Ferng.  Using composition of land multiplier to estimate ecological footprints associated with production activity , 2001 .

[6]  W. Leontief.  Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure: An Input-Output Approach , 1970 .

[7]  B. Bakshi,et al.  Thermodynamic accounting of ecosystem contribution to economic sectors with application to 1992 U.S. economy. , 2004, Environmental science & technology.

[8]  A. Hoekstra.  Virtual water trade : A quantification of virtual water flows between nations in relation to international crop trade , 2003 .

[9]  Peter Rogers,et al.  Water in the Arab world: perspectives and prognoses. , 1994 .

[10]  Manfred Lenzen,et al.  Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities — Part 2: Review of input–output models for the assessment of environmental impacts embodied in trade , 2007 .

[11]  Bhavik R. Bakshi,et al.  Industrial and ecological cumulative exergy consumption of the United States via the 1997 input–output benchmark model , 2007 .

[12]  Erik Dietzenbacher,et al.  Analysing Andalusian Virtual Water Trade in an Input–Output Framework , 2007 .

[13]  J. Minx,et al.  Allocating ecological footprints to final consumption categories with input-output analysis , 2006 .

[14]  Ross Cullen,et al.  New methodology for the ecological footprint with an application to the New Zealand economy , 1998 .

[15]  Jesper Munksgaard,et al.  CO2 accounts for open economies: producer or consumer responsibility? , 2001 .

[16]  J. Munksgaard,et al.  Using Input‐Output Analysis to Measure the Environmental Pressure of Consumption at Different Spatial Levels , 2005 .

[17]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  Water footprints of nations , 2004 .

[18]  Mathis Wackernagel,et al.  Natural capital accounting with the ecological footprint concept , 1999 .

[19]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  The water footprint of cotton consumption , 2005 .

[20]  J. A. Allan,et al.  Virtual Water: A Strategic Resource Global Solutions to Regional Deficits , 1998 .