물발자국과 지속가능한이용.pdf



세계 각처에서 인간활동으로 인한 환경피해와 영향이 가시화 되면서 환경지표를 통해 인간의 활동과 관련된 환경영향을 관리하고 줄여 나가려는 노력이 활발히 진행중이다. “호랑이는 죽어서 가죽을 남기고, 인간은 죽어서 쓰레기를 남긴다”는 패러디 속담과 같이 인간의 활동은 자연환경에 여러 가지 흔적을 남기게 된다.  

인간이 남기는 환경영향을 측정하기 위한 지표의 하나로서 소위 환경발자국이라는 개념이 도입되기 시작했다.  대표적인 환경발자국에는 생태발자국, 탄소발자국, 그리고 물발자국을 들 수 있다. 이 글은 최근 논의가 뜨겁게 진행되어 2009년  5월 국제표준화기구(ISO)에서 표준화 작업에 들어가기로 의견을 모은 이른바 물발자국에 관한 개념과 최근 논의 동향을 소개하고,  이러한 일련의 동향이 우리에게 시사하는 바를 고찰해 보기 위한 것이다. 본 글의 구성은 최근 국제사회에서 이슈가 되고 있는 생태발자국(ecological footprint),  탄소발자국(carbon footprint),  물발자국(water footprint)의 개념과 문제점, 시사점 등과 향후 대응방안에 관하여 살펴보고자 한다.




물발자국 관련 참조 http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

물발자국과 지속가능한이용.pdf
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A new report  from scientists at the University of Twente  analyzes and maps global water use related to production and consumption from 1996 to 2005. According to the study, agriculture accounts for a staggering 92 percent of annual global freshwater consumption. Production of cereal grains accounts for 27 percent, meat for 22 percent, and dairy for 7 percent of this consumption.

The chart details the water footprint of national consumption from countries with a population larger than 5 million, based on by product category. Click on the graphic for a full screen view.



Arjen Hoekstra and Mesfin Mekonnen / PNAS

 

This map looks at the flow of “virtual water,” or water used to produce goods that are then exported to another place for consumption, between countries. According to the study, more than 22 percent of the water consumed globally is virtual water.





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More than one-fifth of the world’s water supplies go towards crops and commodities produced for export, a new study reports. As developed nations import water-intensive goods from overseas, they place pressure on finite resources in areas where water governance and conservation policies are often lacking.

Researchers from the Netherlands have quantified and mapped the global water footprint, highlighting how patterns in international commerce create disparities in water use. The new study, published today in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, presents a spatial analysis of water consumption and pollution based on worldwide trade indicators, demographic data and water-usage statistics.



Arjen Hoekstra, a water management analyst at the University of Twente in Enschede, Netherlands, and lead author of the study, says that water supplies follow the flow of goods around the world. Water consumption and pollution, he says, “are directly tied to the global economy”.

However, Hoekstra suggests that water is rarely included in measures of economic and environmental production costs. Part of the problem is that so much of global water use is indirect. For example, to produce one kilogram of beef requires as much as 15,400 litres of water when issues such as grazing are taken into account, according to the Water Footprint Network, a Dutch non-profit organization for which Hoekstra serves as scientific director.

Another confounding issue is that global water supplies come not only from groundwater sources, but also from rainfall, a factor that has been largely excluded from previous analyses. Whereas research has indicated that agriculture accounts for roughly 70% of the global water footprint, the new data hold agriculture responsible for as much as 92% of worldwide water consumption and degradation. Precipitation is crucial to food production, says Dieter Gerten, a hydrologist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, but it is a “hidden resource” and typically left out of research and water-use planning.

Ruth Mathews, executive director of the Water Footprint Network, says that the detailed analysis can aid countries and private firms in understanding the real magnitude of their consumption. Companies, she suggests, often account only for their operational costs. But if an agricultural product, such as cotton or sugar, is a component of a final good, such as blue jeans or soda, “there’s a huge amount of indirect water use”.

Gerten describes the new findings as significant in calling attention to “the increasing disconnect” between production, regional water use and global consumer markets. He suggests that countries tend to focus on national resources while relying increasingly on water-intensive imports, effectively offshoring their water consumption.

As globalization binds countries in increasingly complex relationships, the risks of scarcity and resource degradation become not just regional but international concerns. Gerten says that future research and policy planning “cannot neglect the importance of these dependencies”.

Image: Virtual water balance per country and direction of gross virtual water flows related to trade in agricultural and industrial products over the period 1996–2005. only the biggest gross flows (>15 Gm3∕y) are shown. Courtesy of PNAS.


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