Virtual Water

<p><em>Virtual Water</em> explores the role of "virtual water" – the water embedded in a product – in ongoing conversations of agriculture, trade and sustainability in an increasingly inter-connected world.</p><p></p><p>A pervasive theme throughout the book is the general lack of knowledge of the use of water in producing and consuming food. The chapters, arising from a workshop supported by the OECD Co-operative Research Programme: Biological Resources Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, on virtual water, agriculture and trade at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, consider questions of gaps in knowledge, why sustainability matters and the policy implications of virtual water trade. Contributors show how water is a lens through which to examine an array of vital issues facing humanity and the planet: human and animal health; food production; environmental management; resource consumption; climate change adaptation and mitigation; economic development, trade and competitiveness; and ethics and consumer trust. </p><p></p><p><em>Virtual Water</em> will be of great interest to scholars of water, resource management and consumption, the environmental aspects of development, agriculture and food production. </p><p></p><p>It originally published as a special issue of <em>Water International</em>. </p> <p>Introduction: Virtual water: its implications on agriculture and trade <em>Chittaranjan Ray, David McInnes and Matthew Sanderson </em>1. The water footprint of the EU: quantification, sustainability and relevance <em>Davy Vanham </em>2. The exposure of a fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain to global water-related risks <em>Tim Hess and Chloe Sutcliffe </em>3. Advising Morocco: adopting recommendations of a water footprint assessment would increase risk and impair food security for the country and its farmers <em>Dennis Wichelns </em>4. Future crop yields and water productivity changes for Nebraska rainfed and irrigated crops <em>Yaqiong Lu, Xianyu Yang and Lara Kueppers </em>5. Can Sub-Saharan Africa feed itself? The role of irrigation development in the region’s drylands for food security <em>Hua Xie, Nicostrato Perez, Weston Anderson, Claudia Ringler and Liangzhi You </em>6. Sustainability of aquifers supporting irrigated agriculture: a case study of the High Plains aquifer in Kansas <em>James J. Butler, Donald O. Whittemore, B. Brownie Wilson and Geoffrey C. Bohling </em>7. Irrigation variability and climate change affect derived distributions of simulated water recharge and nitrate leaching <em>Timothy R. Green and Saseendran S. Anapalli </em>8. The water footprint challenge for water resources management in Chilean arid zones <em>Pablo Álvarez </em>9. The effect of diet changes and food loss reduction in reducing the water footprint of an average American <em>Mesfin M. Mekonnen and Julian Fulton </em>10. Water footprint for Korean rice products and virtual water trade in a water-energy-food nexus <em>Sang-Hyun Lee, Jin-Yong Choi, Seung-Hwan Yoo and Rabi H. Mohtar </em>11. Water footprint of beef production on Texas High Plains pasture <em>Charles P. West and Lisa L. Baxter </em>12. Tradeoffs in the water-energy- food nexus in the urbanizing Asia-Pacific region <em>Makoto Taniguchi, Naoki Masuhara and Shun Teramoto</em></p>