World Water Congress 2015 Edinburgh Scotland
14. Valuing water: monetary and non-monetary dimensions
Author(s): Mark Mulligan
Mark Mulligan,
King’s College London
mark.mulligan@kcl.ac.uk
@markmulligan
www.policysupport.org
Oral: PDFAbstract
Context
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Virtual water is traded when used consumptively in production of traded product, and thus no longer available for use downstream.
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The agricultural land in Latin America occurs in a mix of humid and dry lands.
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Agriculture in drylands => irrigated => greater leaf area than preirrigation cover => greater evapotranspiration => +ve water 'footprint' (local loss)
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Agriculture in humid lands = replace tree cover with rainfed crops => less evapotranspiration => negative water 'footprint' (local gain)
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New agriculture in previously natural areas also 'consumes' forest carbon and biodiversity
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Embedded carbon = lost climate change mitigation potential
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Embedded biodiversity = lost opportunities for biotech and medical discovery