Water footprint of nations amplified by scarcity in the Belt and Road Initiative

Kai Fang; Jianjian He; Qingyan Liu; Siqi Wang; Yong Geng; Reinout Heijungs; Yueyue Du; Wenze Yue; Anqi Xu; Chuanglin Fang

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e12957

Water footprint of nations amplified by scarcity in the Belt and Road Initiative

Kai Fang, Jianjian He, Qingyan Liu, Siqi Wang, Yong Geng^*, Reinout Heijungs, Yueyue Du, Wenze Yue, Anqi Xu, Chuanglin Fang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The growing water scarcity due to international trade poses a serious threat to global sustainability. Given the intensified international trade throughout the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this paper tracks the virtual water trade and water footprint of BRI countries in 2005–2015. By conducting a multi-model assessment, we observe a substantial increase in BRI's water footprint after taking water scarcity into account. Globally the BRI acts as a net exporter of virtual water, while the export volume experiences a decreasing trend. Noticeable transitions in nations' role (net exporters vs. net importers) are found between the BRI and global scales, but also between with and without considering water scarcity. Overall economic and population growth is major drivers of scarcity-weighted water footprint for BRI nations, as opposed to the promotion of water-use efficiency and production structure that can reduce water scarcity. Improving international trade and strengthening cooperation on water resources management deserve priority in alleviating the water scarcity of BRI.

Original language	English
Article number	e12957
Pages (from-to)	1-19
Number of pages	19
Journal	Heliyon
Volume	9
Issue number	1
Early online date	14 Jan 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e12957
Publication status	Published - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72074193 , 72088101 , 71810107001 ), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences ( XDA20040400 ), the Major Project of National Social Science Fund of China ( 22ZDA016 ), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72074193 , 72088101 , 71810107001 ), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences ( XDA20040400 ), the Major Project of National Social Science Fund of China ( 22ZDA016 ), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities .

Funders	Funder number
National Natural Science Foundation of China	72074193, 72088101, 71810107001
Chinese Academy of Sciences	XDA20040400
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences	22ZDA016

Keywords

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Multi-regional input–output (MRIO)
Structural decomposition analysis (SDA)
Water footprint
Water scarcity

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e12957

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Cite this

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title = "Water footprint of nations amplified by scarcity in the Belt and Road Initiative",

abstract = "The growing water scarcity due to international trade poses a serious threat to global sustainability. Given the intensified international trade throughout the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this paper tracks the virtual water trade and water footprint of BRI countries in 2005–2015. By conducting a multi-model assessment, we observe a substantial increase in BRI's water footprint after taking water scarcity into account. Globally the BRI acts as a net exporter of virtual water, while the export volume experiences a decreasing trend. Noticeable transitions in nations' role (net exporters vs. net importers) are found between the BRI and global scales, but also between with and without considering water scarcity. Overall economic and population growth is major drivers of scarcity-weighted water footprint for BRI nations, as opposed to the promotion of water-use efficiency and production structure that can reduce water scarcity. Improving international trade and strengthening cooperation on water resources management deserve priority in alleviating the water scarcity of BRI.",

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AU - Yue, Wenze

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Water footprint of nations amplified by scarcity in the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

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