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A Water Resource Threshold and its Implication for Food Security, Alexander Zehnder, water security, food security
Abstract:
There is a water resources threshold below which a country is forced to compensate the lacking water with food import (virtual water). Based on food trade, we have analyzed the magnitude of this threshold over the last twenty years and make predictions of the number of countries falling below this threshold in the next thirty years. The growing food trade between rich and poor countries needs an international institutional framework to scope with the growing food insecurity in growing number of poor and populous countries. Bio of Alexander J.B. Zehnder Dr. Zehnder is Director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), a research center which focuses on water and the environment. EAWAG is part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), one of the leading international centers for technology research. In addition to directing EAWAG, Dr. Zehnder also chairs the ETH's Strategy Sustainability Program.
