Virtual water flow feature of water-rich province and the enlightenments: Case of Yunnan in China

Abstract

Many water footprint studies have been conducted on those water scarce regions to respond their water crisis, while water rich regions also face water sustainability challenges due to inadequate water management or being virtual water exporter. Therefore, this paper tries to clarify the water footprint and detail virtual water flow features of a water-rich province, namely Yunnan province in China, to pursuit for more enlightenment for water conservation of not only water scarce regions but also water abundant regions. Multi-regional input-output (MRIO) method was adopted for water footprint and virtual water flow calculation. Results showed that the total water footprint of Yunnan was 11.35 billion m3, with 7.98 billion m3 (70%) of internal water footprint, demonstrating that Yunnan was a high water self-sufficient province. Moreover, Yunnan was a net virtual water exporter with a value of 1.18 billion m3, which was not good for Yunnan but was good for water scarce provinces. As for the detailed virtual water flow trade, high water intensity Guangxi, Hunan, Xinjiang were the top three net importers of Yunnan, while low water intensity Guangdong, Shanghai and Zhejiang were the top three export provinces of Yunnan. This did not affect Yunnan, but was not a good phenomenon for water sustainability of whole China. Moreover, agricultural sector was found to be the dominant sector for both virtual water import and export, accounting for about 88% and 86%, respectively. To maintain sustainable water management of both Yunnan and China, policy insights on keeping Yunnan as a net virtual water exporter, making use of its advantage in green water, adjusting trade structure by considering provincial water intensity were proposed.