scholarly journals Assessment of Virtual Water Flows in Iran Using a Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7424
Author(s):  
Ehsan Qasemipour ◽  
Farhad Tarahomi ◽  
Markus Pahlow ◽  
Seyed Saeed Malek Sadati ◽  
Ali Abbasi

The growth of Iran’s agricultural sector in the past few decades has exerted enormous pressure on its aquifers. There is a strong disparity between economic development and natural resource endowments, which threatens water and food security. In this paper, we used a multiregional input–output (MRIO) framework to assess the virtual water flows in Iran. We also estimate the internal and external water footprint of regions compared to their water availability. The results show that the northern part of the country, with no water scarcity, imported virtual water through the trade of goods and services, while severely water-scarce regions were net virtual water exporters. Iran had a net export of 1811 Mm3 per annum. While blue water resources (surface and groundwater) accounted for 92.2% of the national water footprint, 89.1% of total exports were related to the agriculture sector, contributing to only 10.5% of the national income. The results suggest that policy-makers should reconsider the current trade policy regarding food production liberalization in order to make Iran’s limited water resources available for producing industrial goods, which can contribute more to the economy.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7589
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Shiwei Liu ◽  
Cunde Xiao ◽  
Cuiyang Feng ◽  
Chenyu Li

In Tarim River Basin (TRB), the retreat of glacier and snow cover reduction due to climate warming threatens the regional economy of downstream basins that critically depends on meltwater. However, the quantitative evaluation of its impact on multiple sectors of the socioeconomic system is incomplete. Based on compiled regional input–output table of the year 2012, this study developed a method to analyze the relationships between economic activities and related meltwater withdrawal, as well as sectoral transfer. The results show that the direct meltwater withdrawal intensity (DMWI) of agriculture was much higher than other sectors, reaching 2348.02 m3/10,000 CNY. Except for A01 (agriculture) and A02 (mining and washing of coal), the embodied meltwater withdrawal (EMW) driven by the final demand of other sectors was greater than direct meltwater withdrawal, and all sectors required inflows of virtual water (72.45 × 108 m3, accounting for 29% of total supply from cryospheric water resources) for their production processes in 2012. For sectors with high DMWI, improving water-use efficiency is an effective way to reduce water withdrawal. To some extent, the unbalanced supply of cryospheric water resources due to geographical segregation can be regulated by virtual water flows from water-saving to water-intensive sectors. Such decisions can affect the balance between socioeconomic development and environment conservation for long-term sustainability.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanying Zhang ◽  
Yimin Chen ◽  
Min Huang

Water footprint (WF) is a measure of the actual appropriation of water resources. WF accounting can provide a scientific basis for the managements of water resources. In this study, a multi-regional input-output model is employed to measure the quantity of blue WF (WF) and inter-provincial virtual water (VW) flows in China for the years of 2007 and 2010. The results show that: (1) China’s total WF increased from 205.42 billion m3 in 2007 to 229.34 billion m3 in 2010. Approximately 42% of the WF was attributed to VW embodied in inter-provincial trade. Xinjiang is the largest province of VW export, whereas Shanghai had the largest net VW inflows. (2) From 2007 to 2010, the share of the agricultural sector in the entire VW trade declined, but was still as high as 82.78%, followed by the industrial sector. (3) The north-to-south and south-to-south patterns were witnessed in the domestic VW flows. The provincial WF variations are found to be affected by the per capital GDP, total water resources, per capita water resources, and urban population. (4) By linking VW with an integrated WAVE+ (water accounting and vulnerability evaluation) factor, it was found that virtual scarce water (VSW) was mainly exported by the provinces in northern China. At the national level, the amounts of VSW inflows were consistently greater than those of VSW outflows for both years, 2007 and 2010, implying an increased pressure on the provinces with water deprivation issues. Overall, these results can provide a basis for refining the spatiotemporal allocation of water resources and mitigating the conflict between water supply and demand in China.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (20) ◽  
pp. 6481-6488 ◽  
Author(s):  
蔡振华 CAI Zhenhua ◽  
沈来新 SHEN Laixin ◽  
刘俊国 LIU Junguo ◽  
赵旭 ZHAO Xu

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyu Hou ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
Xu Zhao ◽  
Martin Tillotson ◽  
Wei Guo ◽  
...  

Research on blue and green water footprints (WF) for China has typically been carried out based on bottom-up and top-down approach using a single-region input–output table. However, this research typically lacks detail on the sectoral interrelationships which exist between China and its trading partners in other countries/regions of the world. Here, a multi-region input–output approach using the WIOD database was applied to quantify the blue and green WF for China in 2009. The quantification was conducted from both production (WFP) and consumption (WFC) perspectives. The results show that the total WFP for China in 2009 was 1152.2 km3, second only to India. At 1070.9 km3, China had the largest WFC volume in the world. The internal WF was 953.5 km3, taking the substantial share for both the WFC and WFP. Overall, China’s trade resulted in a net export of 53.5 km3 virtual water. In contrast, the agricultural sector resulted in a net import of 70.6 km3 virtual water to China, with United States, Brazil, and Canada acting as major suppliers. This study suggests that quantifying the WF of China at global level through a MRIO framework is a necessary step towards achieving sustainability for China’s water management.


2016 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 1650025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Hristov ◽  
Aleksandra Martinovska-Stojcheska ◽  
Yves Surry

Sustainable management of water resources is imperative in the Western Balkan (WB) region, due to the seasonal, spatial and quality distribution of these resources. This paper analyzed water consumption and associated relationships between the economic sectors in Macedonia in 2005, based on input–output (IO) analysis. Using an environmentally extended IO framework, water consumption was investigated by developing several indicators. Disaggregation of the agriculture sector into 11 sub-sectors, combined with backward and forward linkage analysis, allowed us to identify rice, fruits, grapes and wine, other crop and cattle production as key water-consuming sub-sectors. The developed indicators revealed a high proportion of direct water consumption in agriculture and some other non-agricultural sectors such as mining and quarrying, other mining and quarrying products, food products and beverages as well as electrical machinery, which imposed significant pressure on natural water resources in Macedonia. Therefore, changes in production technology and specializations in Macedonia toward less water-intensive options are needed to ease the pressure on natural water resources. Extending the existing water pricing policy to capture economic, social and environmental aspects should also be considered. Moreover, the development and construction of water accounts and the disaggregation procedure have valuable implications for the WB countries. Applications elsewhere following this Macedonian example can provide a meaningful understanding of the role of water and interdependencies at regional level and increase awareness of the water resource availability at trans-boundary scale.


Author(s):  
Ropingi Ropingi ◽  
Dany Artanto

Contribute of Agriculture sector in Central Java for developing economy is needed, because this sector can absorb employment higher than others.This study aimed at describing the share of agriculture sector in Central Java, especially for economic development with Input Output Analysis Approach. By assessing data from BPS (example PDRB data per sector with multiyear publications, Central Java in Figures), this study found that agricultural sector has highest forward linkages and backward linkages were animal sector which value of forward linkages was 1,1953 and backward linkages was 1.1889. Besides that animal sector (Sektor Peternakan dan hasil-hasilnya) has highest sensitivity Indeks and dispersion indeks. Agriculture sector that need input smallest for producing process or RIA smallest was Umbi-umbian Sector (RIA - 0.0286). Agriculture Sector that highest output demand for producing process or value of RPA highest was Rice Sector (Sektor Padi) with RPA Value = 0.7713.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiliang Tian ◽  
Xiaosheng Han ◽  
Chen Zhang ◽  
Jiaojiao Li ◽  
Jining Liu

With the imminent need of regional environmental protection and sustainable economic development, the concept of virtual water is widely used to solve the problem of regional water shortage. In this paper, nine provinces, namely Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), are taken as the research objects. Through the analysis of input-output tables of 30 provinces in China in 2012, the characteristics of virtual water trade in this region are estimated by using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model. The results show that: (1) The YRB had a net inflow of 17.387 billion m³ of virtual water in 2012. In interprovincial trade, other provinces outside the basin export 21.721 billion m³ of virtual water into the basin. In international trade, the basin exports 4334 million m³ of virtual water to the international market. (2) There are different virtual flow paths in the basin. Shanxi net inputs virtual water by interprovincial trade and international trade, while Gansu and Ningxia net output virtual water by interprovincial trade and international trade. The other six provinces all net output virtual water through international trade, and obtain the net input of virtual water from other provinces outside the basin. (3) From the industrial structure of the provinces in the basin, the provinces with a relatively developed economy, such as Shandong and Shanxi, mostly import virtual water in the agricultural sector, while relatively developing provinces, such as Gansu and Ningxia, mostly import virtual water in the industrial sector. In order to sustain the overall high-quality development of the YRB, we propose the virtual water trade method to quantify the net flow of virtual water in each province and suggest the compensation responsibility of the virtual water net inflow area, and the compensation need of the virtual water net outflow area, in order to achieve efficient water resources utilization.


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