6th World Water Forum, Marseille, France
Session 3.2.1
Towards Sustainable Water Use: Water Footprint Assessment Tool and Database
Time: March 13, 2012, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Venue: PEu 3 – Europa 3 > Palais de l’Europe.
Session outline
At least 2.67 billion people in 201 river basins live with severe water scarcity and the impacts on human health, economic development and environmental sustainability call for innovative tools and robust data that can build understanding of humanity’s pressure on water resources. The Water Footprint Assessment tool has been designed for this purpose and uses the water footprint, an indicator of direct and indirect water consumption and pollution, to explore the linkages between human consumption and production, their sustainability from a local, river basin or global perspective and strategic response formulation. The state-of-the-science in data and tools for use in Water Footprint Assessment will be presented and practitioners, researchers, corporations, NGOs and policymakers are encouraged to contribute to the further development and application of the Water Footprint Assessment Tool, the WATERSTAT database and related tools and databases to achieve locally and globally sustainable, efficient and equitable human water footprints.
Time / Descriptions of items/presentations / Confirmed speakers- 10 minutes / - Introduction to Target 1 / - R. Mathews, WFN
- 10 minutes / - Foundations for Sustainability: WATERSTAT Database / - A. Hoekstra , WFN
- 10 minute / - Industrial Water Use: Ecoinvent / - S. Pfister, ETHZ
- 15 minutes / - Assessing Water Risk: Water Risk Filter / - S. Orr, WWF
- 15 minutes / - Application of EFRs in Sustainability: From Basin Conservation to Water Footprint Assessment / Kari Virgestol
- 15 minutes / - Putting it all Together: Water Footprint Assessment Tool / - Arjen Hoekstra, WFN
- 40 minutes / - Open discussion / - All
- 5 minutes / -Wrap-up / - R. Mathews, WFN
Target and Solutions Group “3.2 Adjust pressures and footprints of human activities on water – 3.2.1 Water footprint tools and databases”
Introduction
The pressure on the Earth water system is increasing due to the competing use of our scarce freshwater resources as a result of population growth, industrialization and urbanization, and poor water resources management in many places. Over the next few decades, climate change may intensify the negative consequences of human pressure on the water resources system. Human impacts on freshwater systems can ultimately be linked to human consumption. Consumption of water-intensive commodities in one place comes at the price of a water footprint in other places.
The pressing water issues thus call upon our common action to adjust pressures and footprints of human activities on water. The water footprint, an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water consumption and pollution of a consumer or producer, links a large range of sectors and actors, thus providing a potentially appropriate and transparent framework to support more optimal water management practices by informing production, consumption and trade decisions. Water footprint assessment is thus an innovative tool that can best appreciate the global dimension of fresh water resources while revealing the inherent linkages between the pressure and impacts of human consumptions on the fresh water system across several scales, including local, river basin, country and global.
To achieve the objective of adjusting pressure and footprints of human activities on water, global and out-of-the-box approaches and well-defined targets need to be identified. Amongst others, Improvement of water footprint tools and databases has been seen as a crucial target along the path towards the final objective. This is a process that will engage a broad range of practitioners, researchers, corporations, NGOs and policymakers to produce, synthesize and apply knowledge and methods, and seek innovative solutions.
Background
The water footprint (WF), coined by Prof. A. Y. Hoekstra, based on the work led by him and his colleagues a decade ago, is a spatial- and temporal-explicit indicator of freshwater use taking into account both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The “virtual water” theory, pioneered by Prof. J. A. Allan in 1990s, reveals the relationships between agricultural production, economies, political processes and water use. The WF of a product measures the total volume of freshwater used in the entire production and supply chain. A WF can also be a measure of any well-defined group of consumers (e.g. an individual, a family, a city, or a nation), or producers (e.g. a public organization, or private enterprise or an economic sector), or geographically delineated areas (e.g. a river basin, or a country). The WF accounts for fresh water consumption in terms of not only quantity (depletion) but also quality (degradation).
Since the inception of the virtual water and WF concepts, there has been a large and growing body of literature in this field appearing in many scientific journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ecological Economics, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Water Resources Management, Water Resources Management, Water International, and Environment International etc. In the meantime, the virtual water and water footprint have been addressed as topical themes and or in sessions of many international conferences and workshops such as the “International Expert Meeting on Virtual Water Trade (2002)”, Sessions on virtual water and water footprint of World Water Forum (3rd, 2003; 5th, 2009, 6th, 2012), Workshops and symposium on virtual water trade (2005, 2006, 2008), Sessions on water footprint and virtual water of the Stockholm World Water Week (2008 – 2011), Corporate Water Footprinting Conferences/Summits (2008 – 2010), UNEP/IETC workshop on water footprint (2010), Water footprint seminar at the International Water Week (2011) and Water Footprint session at the International Planet under Pressure Conference (2012). There are also many existing programmes and/or initiatives on or related to the water footprint. In 2008, seven global groups joined forces to found the Water Footprint Network (WFN), with the aim of working toward a common approach to water footprint measurement, assessment, and reporting.
The Water Footprint Network works on both technical and policy programmes. The technical programme deals with furthering the water footprint assessment methodology, delivering up-to-date statistics and developing practical manuals and tools while the policy programme focuses on the development of practical knowledge on how to incorporate water footprint assessment into governmental and catchment policies, corporate social and environmental strategies, and initiatives on environmental standards and certification schemes. WFN has published the Water Footprint Manual (2009) and recently launched the global standard Water Footprint Assessment Manual, which has been published in English and Portuguese and will be published in Chinese. The WFN has developed and is managing the water footprint database (http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/WaterStat) based on the research outputs of the University of Twente. One of the ongoing projects of WFN’s programmes is the development of the Water Footprint Assessment Tool (WFAT), which aims at offering easy access to and use of the WF database and functionality for performing WF assessment (analysis and mapping) at local and/or global level from the perspectives of product, business and government, respectively. Alongside the Water Footprint Network’s programmes, there are also a number of other global initiatives, programmes and/or tools addressing water issues and water-related environmental issues, such as Alliance for Water Stewardship, UN Global Compact - CEO Water Mandate, European Water Stewardship, Global Report Initiative, UNEP- Water Footprint, Neutrality and Efficiency (WaFNE) programme, ISO 14046 Water Footprint working group, CDP Water Disclosure, WBCSD Global Water Tool, GEMI water sustainability tools, Corporate Water Gauge, WWF-DEG Water Risk Filter and Mitigation Toolbox.
Seeing the growing number of programmes/initiatives and the associated tools in relation to water use and impact assessment, there is a need to improve and harmonize the current WF tools and databases. For this purpose, the target at “Improvement of water footprint tools and databases) has been identified under the Core Group 3.2 “Adjust pressures and footprints of human activities on water” as one of the key priorities for actions of the 6th World Water Forum (6th WWF).
Rationale
The increasing pressure on freshwater resources during the last decades can be corroborated by the growing signs of water scarcity and pollution we find today across the globe. Additional pressure on the resource is expected due to population increase, change in people’s consumption patterns and overall increased water demand.
The preparation of solutions to tackle this problem is very challenging because of a number of factors such as: (1) large degree of variation in the spatial and temporal distribution of water availability, which makes the resource of very local nature, (2) the global perspective humans have given to the water resource by promoting global trade of goods and products, and therefore virtual water trade, (3) the complexity of the relationship between competing water users and the localized (and sometimes distant) environmental impacts of their water consumption. The goal of target 1 is to contribute with the development of new and improvement of existing water footprint databases and maps capable of addressing this broad range of issues, aiming at properly assessing water uses and their associated sustainability in an integrated manner with a explicit spatial and temporal frame.
The databases and maps required should include at least the following characteristics:
- Water footprint accounting - Volumes of direct and indirect freshwater consumption (blue and green water footprints) and pollution (grey water footprint):
Assessment of water footprints based on national (or even global) average water data, enabling the user to assess the water footprint of a product with the aim of identifying ingredients that most significantly contribute to the overall water footprint.
- World-wide coverage with a spatial resolution which enables stakeholders understanding of their local impacts in the context of the global economy:
Assessment yielding average data that can be broken down to monthly averages, not suitable for formulating impact reduction strategies, but instead providing a basis for understanding where hotspot watersheds can be expected.
- Water availability per river basin:
Defined as the natural runoff in the catchment minus the environmental flow requirements. The later are defined as the quantity, quality and timing of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well-being that depend on these ecosystems.
- Levels of water scarcity per river basin:
Defined as the ratio of the total blue water footprints in the catchment to the blue water availability.
- Water pollution levels per river basin:
Defined as the ratio of the total grey water footprint for a given pollutant in the catchment to the actual runoff from that catchment.
- Be publicly available
The steps to achieve this target consist of: (i) development and improvement of product water footprint databases and maps (blue, green and grey water footprints) at the grid level (spatial resolution of at least 5’ x 5’); and a monthly time resolution; (ii) development and improvement of water footprint maps at the basin level and country level, (iii) development and improvement of water availability, water scarcity and water pollution level (for most common pollutants) databases and maps.
Target action plan and commitments
Milestone 1: Water Footprint Assessment Tool v-1 publicly available
Steps
- Sept. 2011: Database built on the datasets for water footprint of agricultural processes and products, of national consumption are publicly available.
· Crop and derived crop products water footprint dataset; regional scale and monthly resolution.
· Farm animals and animal products water footprint dataset; country level and yearly resolution.
· National water footprint datasets; consumption perspective, yearly resolution.
· River basin water scarcity datasets taking into account a simplified approach for environmental flow requirements (EFR) and industrial water footprints; main river basins of the world and monthly resolution.
Commitments: leading: WFN & University of Twente (NL)
- Feb. - March 2012: Water Footprint Assessment Tool (version 1) publicly available - mapping and visualizing product water footprints; mapping and visualizing river basin water footprints, water availability and water scarcity for 400 main river basins in the world, with a monthly resolution.
· Incorporation of developed water footprint database linked to the tool
· Software development
· Interface design and development for applications from three perspectives: product, producer, geographical area (e.g. river basin)
· Organize training on the use of the tool
Commitments: leading: WFN & University of Twente (NL), partnering : IFC, Unilever and DEG
- Dec. 2011- Jan.2012: Platform of water footprint-related web-based tools
· Definition of existing water footprint-related, web-based tools which complement
· Contact responsible stakeholders
· Preparation of a platform concept note
Commitments: leading: WFN, partnering: WWF-international, DEG, etc.
Milestone 2: Development of additional required datasets and Water Footprint Assessment Tool v-2
Steps
- March 2012: Presentation of the applications of the water footprint assessment tool and water footprint-related platform of tools at the 6WWF
· Incorporation into the programme of the T&S session
Commitments: leading: WFN
- Dec. 2012: Water footprint dataset of industrial processes and products publicly available
· Define cooperation with proprietary databases such as Ecoinvent for the generation of a water footprint dataset of industrial processes
Commitments: leading: WFN, partnering: UT & Ecoinvent
- Dec. 2012: Dataset on water pollution levels at the river basin level publicly available
· Define cooperation with UT researchers for the generation of the dataset
Commitments: leading: WFN, partnering: UT
- Dec. 2013: Updated dataset on Environmental Flow Requirements and green water availability publicly available
· Define cooperation with EFR experts and researchers
· Define cooperation with green water availability experts
Commitments: leading: WFN, partnering: UT, TNC etc.
- Dec. 2013: Water Footprint Assessment Tool (version 2) publicly available
· Incorporation of industrial water footprint datasets
· Incorporation of water pollution levels dataset
· Incorporation of EFR datasets
· Incorporation of green water availability datasets
· Incorporation of water footprint sustainability assessment and response formulation modules