Our national water resources

Abstract. Many nations save domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities that are less water intensive. National water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a global level if the flow is from sites with high to sites with low water productivity. The paper analyses the consequences of international virtual water flows on the global and national water budgets. The assessment shows that the total amount of water that would have been required in the importing countries if all imported agricultural products would have been produced domestically is 1605 Gm3/yr. These products are however being produced with only 1253 Gm3/yr in the exporting countries, saving global water resources by 352 Gm3/yr. This saving is 28 per cent of the international virtual water flows related to the trade of agricultural products and 6 per cent of the global water use in agriculture. National policy makers are however not interested in global water savings but in the status of national water resources. Egypt imports wheat and in doing so saves 3.6 Gm3/yr of its national water resources. Water use for producing export commodities can be beneficial, as for instance in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Brazil, where the use of green water resources (mainly through rain-fed agriculture) for the production of stimulant crops for export has a positive economic impact on the national economy. However, export of 28 Gm3/yr of national water from Thailand related to rice export is at the cost of additional pressure on its blue water resources. Importing a product which has a relatively high ratio of green to blue virtual water content saves global blue water resources that generally have a higher opportunity cost than green water.

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Monitoring of Glaciers and Glacial Lakes in Afghanistan

Earth Observation Science and Applications for Risk Reduction and Enhanced Resilience in Hindu Kush Himalaya Region ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-73569-2_11 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 211-230

Author(s):

Sudan Bikash Maharjan ◽

Finu Shrestha ◽

Fayezurahman Azizi ◽

Esmatullah Joya ◽

Birendra Bajracharya ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Needs Assessment ◽

Water Resource ◽

Glacial Lakes ◽

Comprehensive Data ◽

National Priority ◽

National Water

AbstractDuring the needs assessment in Afghanistan, the General Directorate of Water Resources (GDWR) of the National Water Affairs Regulation Authority (NWARA) (previously Water Resource Department (WRD) of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW)) emphasized that the compilation of comprehensive data on the glaciers in the country is a national priority.

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Towards sustainable utilisation of water resources: a comprehensive analysis of Ghana's National Water Policy

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2017.114 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 377-389 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Isaac Monney ◽

Kafui Ocloo

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Policy Development ◽

Water Policy ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Integrated Water Resources Management ◽

Gender Mainstreaming ◽

Sea Waves ◽

Water Sector ◽

Water Scarce ◽

National Water

In the years ahead, meeting the challenges of food security in a water scarce world will require drastic changes in the way water resources are managed. Accordingly, Ghana's water sector has seen tremendous changes over the years culminating in the 2007 National Water Policy. This paper evaluates the policy to highlight its strengths and weaknesses, to inform possible future review and guide new policy development in developing countries or troubleshoot existing policies. It draws on a framework based on three thematic areas distilled from global water policy development guidelines. Using a 3-point Likert scale, sub-thematic components are ranked and used to quantitatively compute the theme-specific scores (TSS) and the overall performance (OP) of the policy. Per the study findings, cross-cutting water policy issues including integrated water resources management, climate change adaptation and gender mainstreaming are more highlighted (TSS = 67%) than country-specific water management issues (TSS = 50%). Specifically, the policy neglects key national issues including protection of coastal regions from the onslaught of sea waves, and water resource protection against oil spills, and its institutional framework for implementation excludes key sector institutions. Generally, the policy addresses most pertinent issues in the water sector (OP = 64%) and areas for improvement are further discussed in the paper.

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