Academic Journal
Imported virtual water is physically scarcer than domestic water globally.
| Τίτλος: | Imported virtual water is physically scarcer than domestic water globally. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Su H; Multidisciplinary Water Management group, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, 7500AE, the Netherlands. Electronic address: h.su@utwente.nl., Mialyk O; Multidisciplinary Water Management group, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, 7500AE, the Netherlands., Hogeboom RJ; Multidisciplinary Water Management group, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, 7500AE, the Netherlands; Water Footprint Network, Enschede, 7522NB, the Netherlands., Berger M; Multidisciplinary Water Management group, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, 7500AE, the Netherlands. |
| Πηγή: | Water research [Water Res] 2026 Oct 15; Vol. 305, pp. 126526. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jul 17. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Pergamon Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0105072 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-2448 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00431354 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Water Res Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: Oxford, Pergamon Press. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Water Supply*, Water Resources ; Agriculture ; Water |
| Περίληψη: | To ease pressure on scarce domestic freshwater resources, countries can import virtual water, i.e., the volume of water consumed for producing traded products. However, if those foreign water resources are physically scarcer than domestic resources, engaging in virtual water trade shifts the burden of unsustainable water use beyond national borders. Here, we provide the first global, long-term comparison of the physical scarcity of imported and domestic water, measured by the overconsumed portion, for 158 countries and aggregated areas spanning 123 agricultural and 84 non-agricultural sectors from 1990 to 2019. We achieve this by combining global crop and hydrological modeling with a hybrid Multi-Regional Input-Output analysis. We find that 45% of virtual water is overconsumed, which remains broadly stable over the past three decades, despite marked growth in water consumption and trade. Importantly, we find clear global evidence that, for most countries over the study period, imported virtual water is physically scarcer than the water consumed domestically; only ten countries consistently import less scarce water. In addition, many regions import more virtual water from water-scarce regions than they export to those regions. This calls into question the prevailing narrative of virtual water trade as a solution to water scarcity. Our findings suggest that future virtual water studies should be complemented by a narrative that explicitly recognizes the role of virtual water trade in contributing to global water scarcity, thereby highlighting the need to identify trade and policy pathways to leverage virtual water trade in promoting sustainable water use. (Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Overconsumed water; Virtual water trade; Water consumption; Water scarcity |
| Substance Nomenclature: | 059QF0KO0R (Water) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260723 Date Completed: 20260909 Latest Revision: 20260909 |
| Update Code: | 20260909 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.watres.2026.126526 |
| PMID: | 42492213 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1879-2448 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.watres.2026.126526 |