Abstract
Water scarcity is a severe global threat, and it will only become more critical with a growing and wealthier population. Annually, considerable volumes of water are transferred virtually through the global food system to secure nations' food supply and to diversify diets. Our objective is to assess, whether specializing water-intensive production for exports in areas with an abundance of natural resources, would contribute to globally resource-efficient food production. We calculated Finland's virtual water net export potential (four scenarios) by reallocating the present underutilized agricultural land and combining that with a domestic diet change (three scenarios) to maximize the exports of cattle products. Assessed scenarios indicate that the greatest potential to net export virtual water (3.7 billion m 3 year -1 , 25-time increase to current) was achieved when local production was maximized with domestic and exported feed, and bovine meat consumption in Finland was replaced with a vegetarian substitute. This corresponds to annual virtual water consumption for food of about 3.6 million global citizens (assuming 1032 m 3 cap -1 year -1 ). Therefore our results suggest, that optimizing water-intensive production to water-rich areas, has a significant impact on global water savings. In addition, increasing exports from such areas by decreasing the domestic demand for water-intensive products to meet the nutrition recommendation levels, saves water resources.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1075 |
| Journal | Sustainability (Switzerland) |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 19 Feb 2019 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
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Keywords
- Cattle production
- Diet change
- Land use
- Reallocation
- Trade
- Virtual water
- Water-intensive products
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Cattle production for exports in water-abundant areas : The case of Finland. / Lehikoinen, Elina; Parviainen, Tuure; Helenius, Juha; Jalava, Mika; Salonen, Arto O.; Kummu, Matti.
In: Sustainability (Switzerland), Vol. 11, No. 4, 1075, 19.02.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Cattle production for exports in water-abundant areas
T2 - The case of Finland
AU - Lehikoinen, Elina
AU - Parviainen, Tuure
AU - Helenius, Juha
AU - Jalava, Mika
AU - Salonen, Arto O.
AU - Kummu, Matti
PY - 2019/2/19
Y1 - 2019/2/19
N2 - Water scarcity is a severe global threat, and it will only become more critical with a growing and wealthier population. Annually, considerable volumes of water are transferred virtually through the global food system to secure nations' food supply and to diversify diets. Our objective is to assess, whether specializing water-intensive production for exports in areas with an abundance of natural resources, would contribute to globally resource-efficient food production. We calculated Finland's virtual water net export potential (four scenarios) by reallocating the present underutilized agricultural land and combining that with a domestic diet change (three scenarios) to maximize the exports of cattle products. Assessed scenarios indicate that the greatest potential to net export virtual water (3.7 billion m 3 year -1 , 25-time increase to current) was achieved when local production was maximized with domestic and exported feed, and bovine meat consumption in Finland was replaced with a vegetarian substitute. This corresponds to annual virtual water consumption for food of about 3.6 million global citizens (assuming 1032 m 3 cap -1 year -1 ). Therefore our results suggest, that optimizing water-intensive production to water-rich areas, has a significant impact on global water savings. In addition, increasing exports from such areas by decreasing the domestic demand for water-intensive products to meet the nutrition recommendation levels, saves water resources.
AB - Water scarcity is a severe global threat, and it will only become more critical with a growing and wealthier population. Annually, considerable volumes of water are transferred virtually through the global food system to secure nations' food supply and to diversify diets. Our objective is to assess, whether specializing water-intensive production for exports in areas with an abundance of natural resources, would contribute to globally resource-efficient food production. We calculated Finland's virtual water net export potential (four scenarios) by reallocating the present underutilized agricultural land and combining that with a domestic diet change (three scenarios) to maximize the exports of cattle products. Assessed scenarios indicate that the greatest potential to net export virtual water (3.7 billion m 3 year -1 , 25-time increase to current) was achieved when local production was maximized with domestic and exported feed, and bovine meat consumption in Finland was replaced with a vegetarian substitute. This corresponds to annual virtual water consumption for food of about 3.6 million global citizens (assuming 1032 m 3 cap -1 year -1 ). Therefore our results suggest, that optimizing water-intensive production to water-rich areas, has a significant impact on global water savings. In addition, increasing exports from such areas by decreasing the domestic demand for water-intensive products to meet the nutrition recommendation levels, saves water resources.
KW - Cattle production
KW - Diet change
KW - Land use
KW - Reallocation
KW - Trade
KW - Virtual water
KW - Water-intensive products
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061719234&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su11041075
DO - 10.3390/su11041075
M3 - Article
VL - 11
JO - Sustainability
JF - Sustainability
SN - 2071-1050
IS - 4
M1 - 1075
ER -