Assessing the impact of food trade centric on land, water, and food security in South Korea

Golden Odey; Bashir Adelodun; Seulgi Lee; Khalid Adeola Adeyemi; Kyung Sook Choi

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117319

Assessing the impact of food trade centric on land, water, and food security in South Korea

J Environ Manage. 2023 Apr 15:332:117319. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117319. Epub 2023 Jan 31.

Authors

Golden Odey¹, Bashir Adelodun², Seulgi Lee³, Khalid Adeola Adeyemi⁴, Kyung Sook Choi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, South Korea. Electronic address: goldenodey@knu.ac.kr.
² Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, South Korea; Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, 240103, Nigeria. Electronic address: adelodun.b@unilorin.edu.ng.
³ Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, South Korea. Electronic address: leesg91@knu.ac.kr.
⁴ Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, South Korea. Electronic address: khaleediadeola@gmail.com.
⁵ Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, South Korea; Institute of Agricultural Science & Technology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea. Electronic address: ks.choi@knu.ac.kr.

PMID: 36731406
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117319

Abstract

The observed and predicted changes in climate, as well as the growth in urban population, are creating severe stress on existing water resources in South Korea. By the importation of agricultural products from more water-rich countries through the virtual water concept, a country could save local water resources for other important uses. However, these imports from other countries could lead to certain vulnerabilities in the importing country derived from climate change. Therefore, through the application of the virtual water concept and the climate vulnerability index ((CVI) - measure of a country's vulnerability to indirect climate impacts), this study assessed the implication of virtual water imports and climate change through food trade, on the water, land and food security status of South Korea over the period of 2000-2017. The results showed that significant amounts of national water and land was saved through the importation of major upland crops. Virtual water imports increased significantly over time, rising from 16.2 Bm³ in 2000 to 16.5, 17.4, and 20.7 Bm³ in 2005, 2011, and 2017 respectively, with the USA, China, Australia, Brazil and Canada being the major exporters to South Korea. The study also revealed high CVI values for the oils and grains category of imported food, implying the high vulnerability of South Korea to climate change effects resulting from the import of these crops. The quantitative impacts and structural changes in virtual water trade, as well as the link between climate change, food security, international trade, and domestic water consumption could be evaluated for the sustainable management and allocation of resources. This study successfully identified and quantified the status of food trade and its environmental implications in the study area, providing insight into a better allocation of locally available resources.

Keywords: Climate vulnerability; Food security; Food trade flows; Korea; Virtual water trade; Water saving.

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Commerce*
Crops, Agricultural
Food Security
Food Supply
Internationality
Republic of Korea
Water
Water Supply*

Substances

Water