Net Virtual Water Import Research Articles

우리나라 가상수량 산정방법의 적용성 평가

가상수(假想水, Virtual Water)란 일정량의 농산물, 축산물, 공산품과 같은 생산품 혹은 서비스 제공에 필요한 물의양을 뜻하는 것으로 1990년대 초반 Tony Allan 교수가 처음 제시하였다. 본 연구는 Chapagain and Hoekstra (2004)이 제시한 농축산물 및 공산품의 단위 가상수량 산정방법을 분석 및 적용하여 1998년부터 2007년까지 우리나라의 가상수 수출입량을 산정하였다. 또한 가상수 수출입을 국가간 정량화하는 방법론으로 물발자국(Water Footprint) 이론을 이용하였다. 그리고 2006년 우리나라 농작물 생산량에 단위 가상수량을 적용하여 수자원장기종합계획(건설교통부, 2006)의 농업용수 수요량과 비교함으로써 단위 가상수 사용의 적절성을 검토하였다. 연구결과 현재 우리나라는 연평균 320억 <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>의 가상수를 농축산물 및 공산품의 무역을 통하여 순수입하고 있으며 그 양은 지속적으로 증가추세를 보이고 있다. 생산되는 농작물의 가상수량과 농업용수 수요량의 차이는 약 6억 <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>으로서 전체 수요량이 약 160억 <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>인 점을 감안한다면 상대적으로 근소한 차이로서 본 연구에서 적용한 단위 가상수량 산정방법이 타당함을 입증하였다. Virtual water is defined as the volume of water to produce commodities and provide services, which has been developed by Tony Allan since the early 1990s. This research aims to evaluate a volume of virtual water trade in Korea from 1998 to 2007 by applying the evaluation method of unit virtual water volume to agricultural, live stock and industrial products, which is developed by Chapagain and Hoekstra (2004). Also, the concept of water footprint is deployed to quantify the volume of virtual water trade between countries. The study attempts to assess the appropriateness of the evaluation method of unit virtual water volume by employing the method to calculate the total amount of agricultural products in Korea and comparing this with the amount of agricultural water demand in the Korea Water Vision 2006. The research outcome shows that Korea has a net virtual water import of 32 billion <TEX>$m^3$</TEX> on average in the form of agricultural, live stock and industrial commodities whose volume gradually increases. The gap between the volume of virtual water import of agricultural and live stock commodities and the total volume of agricultural water use reaches approximately 600 million <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>. This figure can be negligible considering the total volume of water demand in Korea, around 16 billion <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>, which demonstrates the validity of the evaluation method in terms of analyzing water balance.

The water footprint of Indonesian provinces related to the consumption of crop products

Abstract. National water use accounts are generally limited to statistics on water withdrawals in the different sectors of economy. They are restricted to "blue water accounts" related to production, thus excluding (a) "green" and "grey water accounts", (b) accounts of internal and international virtual water flows and (c) water accounts related to consumption. This paper shows how national water-use accounts can be extended through an example for Indonesia. The study quantifies interprovincial virtual water flows related to trade in crop products and assesses the green, blue and grey water footprint related to the consumption of crop products per Indonesian province. The study shows that the average water footprint in Indonesia insofar related to consumption of crop products is 1131 m3/cap/yr, but provincial water footprints vary between 859 and 1895 m3/cap/yr. Java, the most water-scarce island, has a net virtual water import and the most significant external water footprint. This large external water footprint is relieving the water scarcity on this island. Trade will remain necessary to supply food to the most densely populated areas where water scarcity is highest (Java).

Virtual Water Trade as a Solution for Water Scarcity in Egypt

Understanding the virtual water trade concept and strategy is important for formulating informed policies for improving water use efficiency at different levels. However, the introduction of virtual water concept as a policy option in Egypt is still in need for extensive investigations, research, and feasibility evaluation. Currently, Egypt’s net virtual water import as a percentage of water resources has mounted to be 23.55%. The main concern, here, is to apply the concept of virtual water as a strategy in a way that meets its interests and objectives defined in the Egyptian National Water Resources Plan. This paper is primarily concerned with investigating the prevailing water/food situation in Egypt. It outlines water and food security situation and figures, as well as policy measures undertaken to meet the challenges. The role of ‘virtual water’ within a broader policy framework is demonstrated using crop production and international trade data from Egypt, where substantial amounts of ‘virtual water’ is embodied in wheat and maize imports. It is argued that for a country like Egypt, affordability of applying the virtual water concept may not be a major problem, but more the priority and independency related to food security. In order to adopt the application of virtual water concept in the national water resources strategy of Egypt, there is a need for a clear vision and understanding of its advantages and disadvantages according to the Egyptian conditions. This new concept as a policy option in Egypt requires further research and thorough understanding of the impacts and interactions on the local social, economic, environmental, cultural, natural, and political situation.

한국의 농산물 가상수 산정

가상수는 농산물, 가공식품 또는 제품을 만들기 위해서 필요한 물의 총량을 의미한다. 우리나라의 곡물자급율은 27 %에 불과하며, 농산물 수입에 의한 가상수 수입이 다른 나라들에 비해 매우 큰 편에 속하며, 우리나라에 적합한가상수를 산정할 필요가 있다. 본 논문은 Chapagain과 Hoekstra가 제안한 방법을 이용하여, 1991년부터 2007년까지의 연간 농업 가상수 사용량(agricultural virtual water use, AWU)과 작물 1 톤을 생산하기 위하여 필요한 가상수량(virtual water content, VWC)을 산정하는 데 목적을 두고 있다. 가상수 사용량을 산정하기 위하여 44가지 작물에 대해 17년간의 작물 생산량과 재배면적 데이터를 수집하고, FAO Penman-Monteith식을 이용하여 작물소비수량을 산정하였다. 산정 결과를 살펴보면, 농업 가상수 사용량은 151억 <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>으로 산정되었고, 점차 그 양이 줄어드는 경향을 보였다. 작물 중 논벼가 가장 많은 양의 농업 가상수를 사용하였고, 전체 농업 가상수 사용량 중 75 %에 해당하는 연간 101억 <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>을 사용하였으며, 논벼를 1톤을 생산하기 위해 필요한 가상수량은 1600.1 <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>/ton으로 산정되었다. 작물을 생산하는 데 있어 필요한 가상수량이 큰 작물 종류는 채유종실이 가장 큰 값을 나타내었고, 엽채류 및 근채류가 가장 작은 것으로 나타났다. 산정된 원료 작물의 가상수량은 원료 작물과 가공 생산물의 중량비를 이용하여 농산물 가공품이나 축산물 등 2차 생산물의 가상수를 산정할 수 있다. 이에 따라 본 연구에서 산정된 결과는 우리나라의 농업 분야의 물발자국을 산정하는 데 있어서 기초자료로 활용할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다. Virtual water is defined as the volume of water required to produce a commodity or service. The degree of food self-sufficiency is currently about 27 % in South Korea, so that Korea is one of the largest net virtual water import countries for agricultural product, thus it is necessary to estimate suitable virtual water for South Korea. The objective of this paper is to quantify the agricultural virtual water use (AWU) and virtual water content (VWC) using the method suggested by Chapagain and Hoekstra during the period 1991-2007. To calculate the virtual water content, 44 different crop production quantity and harvested area data were collected for 17 years and FAO Penman-Monteith equation was adapted for computing crop consumptive use of water. As the results, AWU has been estimated at 15.1 billion <TEX>$m^3$</TEX> in average showing a tendency to decrease. Rice has the largest share in the AWU, consuming about 10.1 billion <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>/yr which is about 75 % of gross AWU, and the VWC is 1600.1 <TEX>$m^3$</TEX>/ton for paddy rice. The largest VWCs of crops are oilseed and tuber crop, and the smallest are leaf and root vegetables. The primary crop production VWC can be used for calculating the VWC of various secondary products using the contribution ratio, therefore the results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for national agricultural water footprint.

Understanding virtual water flows: A multiregion input‐output case study of Victoria

This article explains and interprets virtual water flows from the well‐established perspective of input‐output analysis. Using a case study of the Australian state of Victoria, it demonstrates that input‐output analysis can enumerate virtual water flows without systematic and unknown truncation errors, an issue which has been largely absent from the virtual water literature. Whereas a simplified flow analysis from a producer perspective would portray Victoria as a net virtual water importer, enumerating the water embodiments across the full supply chain using input‐output analysis shows Victoria as a significant net virtual water exporter. This study has succeeded in informing government policy in Australia, which is an encouraging sign that input‐output analysis will be able to contribute much value to other national and international applications.

Global consumptive water use for crop production: The importance of green water and virtual water

Over the last 4 decades the use of blue water has received increasing attention in water resources research, but little attention has been paid to the quantification of green water in food production and food trade. In this paper, we estimate both the blue and green water components of consumptive water use (CWU) for a wide range of agricultural crops, including seven cereal crops, cassava, cotton, groundnuts, potatoes, pulses, rapeseed, soybeans, sugar beets, sugarcane, and sunflower, with a spatial resolution of 30 arc min on the land surface. The results show that the global CWU of these crops amounted to 3823 km3 a−1 for the period 1998–2002. More than 80% of this amount was from green water. Around 94% of the world crop‐related virtual water trade has its origin in green water, which generally constitutes a low‐opportunity cost of green water as opposed to blue water. High levels of net virtual water import (NVWI) generally occur in countries with low CWU on a per capita basis, where a virtual water strategy is an attractive water management option to compensate for domestic water shortage for food production. NVWI is constrained by income; low‐income countries generally have a low level of NVWI. Strengthening low‐income countries economically will allow them to develop a virtual water strategy to mitigate malnutrition of their people.

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

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 m 3/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.