Saving water through global trade

Many nations save domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities\nthat are less water intensive. National water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a\nglobal level if the flow is from sites with high to sites with low water productivity. The report analyses the\nconsequences of international virtual water flows on the global and national water budgets. The assessment\nshows that the total amount of water that would have been required in the importing countries if all imported\nagricultural products would have been produced domestically is 1605 Gm3/yr. These products are however being\nproduced with only 1253 Gm3/yr in the exporting…