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

Heliyon. 2023 Jan 14;9(1):e12957. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e12957. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Kai Fang^{1

2

3}, Jianjian He¹, Qingyan Liu⁴, Siqi Wang¹, Yong Geng^{5

6

7

8}, Reinout Heijungs^{9

10}, Yueyue Du¹¹, Wenze Yue¹, Anqi Xu¹, Chuanglin Fang¹²

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
² Center of Social Welfare and Governance, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
³ Zhejiang Ecological Civilization Academy, Anji, 313300, China.
⁴ China Unicom (Shanxi) Industry Internet Co., LTD, Taiyuan, 030032, China.
⁵ School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, China.
⁶ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁷ China Institute of Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, China.
⁸ Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China.
⁹ Department of Operations Analytics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam, 1081, HV, the Netherlands.
¹⁰ Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, 2300RA, the Netherlands.
¹¹ Fujian Tourism Development Group, Fuzhou, 350003, China.
¹² Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, China.

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.

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