' Virtual Water'

This blog post is only a short introduction into the term ' virtual water' that is used in academic literature on the topic of transboundary water .

The term was first coined at a seminar at SOAS in 1993 . Before 1993 the term embedded waster was used however it did not capture much attention . During the mid 1980's Israeli economists discussed the idea that from an economic perspective it was not sensible to export scarce Israeli water . They argued this is what was occurring overtime they exported avocados and oranges that were water intensive . So following on from this the term virtual water is the hidden flow of water that is used to transport food or other commodities from one country to another(or on a smaller scale , within a country). Virtual water overall links water, food and trade.

In an article by S.Merrett, J.A.Allan and C. Lant they use the example of producing grain. To produce one ton of grain it requires around 1,000 cubic metres of water. If this grain is exported to another country that has a shortage of water or soil water then the receiving country is spared the economics and the stress of mobilising 1,000 cubic metres of water. By the millennium the Middle East and Africa were importing at least 50 million tons of grain annually . This required 50 cubic kilometres of water to produce it which is the volume of freshwater that flows into Egypt each year down the Nile.

https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/371343/mod_page/content/7/Reading_list/allan_2003.pdf

The real driving force

This post is a short summary of the driving forces behind water laws that are made regarding African transboundary water resources. This was inspired by the article entitled , ' driving forces behind African transboundary water law : internal , external , and implications ' by Jonathan Lautze , Mark Giordano and Maelis Borghese. 

  The internal drivers that are discussed within this article are numbered in terms of how common they are. The most common internal factor that drives post-colonial water laws within African river basins is something called ‘ joint management ‘. The concept of joint management is that nations who share the water source come to an agreement on a set of principles or structures that help to manage the water source.  The second most common is water development, which is the use of the water source for the purpose of hydroelectric power or irrigation purposes, usually through the construction of dams. The other two internal drivers for transboundary water laws in Africa are environmental sustainability and water allocation. Environmental sustainability is becoming more of a driving factor when laws are being made due to climate change.  The external drivers of water laws are as follows; A country or region’s geostrategic importance, global trends in water resources management and development, religious or cultural affiliation and international concern with transboundary waters.  Just one example of an external driver relating to cultural affiliation is within the Senegal River basin. The article uses  four examples within Africa which are the Nile, the Senegal, The Niger and the Volta.