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Socioeconomic Drivers of Global Blue Water Use
Author(s) -
Soligno Irene,
Malik Arunima,
Lenzen Manfred
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2018wr024216
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , water resources , natural resource economics , business , consumption (sociology) , water use , population , developing country , population growth , work (physics) , geography , economics , development economics , economic growth , ecology , biology , mechanical engineering , social science , demography , sociology , engineering
The recent intensification of international trade has led to a growing disconnection between consumer demand for goods and services and the water resources that support them. The important role of household demands on the exploitation of distant freshwater resources is widely recognized, yet the different socioeconomic drivers underlying the trends in domestic and foreign water use remain poorly quantified. In this work, the main mechanisms governing the exploitation of domestic and foreign freshwater resources are quantified by undertaking a structural decomposition analysis over the period 1994–2010 in 186 countries. Our results show that growth in affluence has been the main determinant of rising water consumption trends worldwide. There are indications that consumers in developed countries tend to increase their affluence by intensifying the use of foreign water resources. Conversely, affluence growth in developing regions seems to rely on the exploitation of local water resources revealing a significant imbalance among economies. The growth of affluence and population has been only partially offset by improvements in the intensity of blue water use by producers and, to a lesser extent, by changes in the interdependences among sectors.