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 blog uses well literature available on the course reading list and makes some key arguments clear. The number of posts is certainly less than expected by this stage of the term and I strongly encourage you to focus on producing more regular posts over the last few weeks of term. I also encourage you to delve a little more deeply into the peer-reviewed literature - perhaps focus on particular hydropolitical conflict in Africa or aspect of hydropolitical conflicts in Africa. Please also try to foster greater interactions on your blog as they often serve to test one's conceptualisations.
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