[enviro-vlc] Virtual water: Virtuous impact? The unsteady state of virtual water

[Vern Weitzel]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SEA-SPAN] Virtual water: Virtuous impact? The unsteady state of 
virtual water
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2008 08:45:15 +0700
From: user at sea-user.org

Virtual water: Virtuous impact? The unsteady state of virtual water

Dik Roth and Jeroen Warner
Source: Agriculture and Human Values (2008) 25:257–270

  ‘‘Virtual water,’’ water needed for crop production, is now being mainstreamed 
in the water policy world. Relying on virtual water in the form of food imports 
is increasingly recommended as good policy for water-scarce areas. Virtual water 
globalizes discussions on water scarcity, ecological sustainability, food 
security and consumption. Presently the concept is creating much noise in the 
water and food policy world, which contributes to its politicization. We will 
argue that the virtual water debate is also a ‘‘real water’’ and food and 
agricultural policy debate and hence has political effects.
Decisions about food strategies and resource allocation play out on the national 
political economy, benefiting some while harming others. Therefore, a policy 
choice for virtual water is not politically neutral. ‘‘Real water’’
interventions are, likewise, inspired by economic as well as political 
considerations like control of the countryside, geopolitical strategy, and food 
sovereignty (independence from international political conditionality and market 
uncertainties). To illustrate these ideas, we look into case studies of Egypt 
and the State of Punjab in India. In India, a debate on the merits and demerits 
of a virtual water strategy is now emerging. In Egypt, which switched to food 
imports in the early 1970s, a long-standing taboo on debating virtual water is 
now being relaxed