Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
assume that, on average, agricultural production for export does not cause signi
cantly
more or fewer water-related problems (such as water depletion or pollution) than pro-
duction for domestic consumption. That means that roughly one-sixth of the water prob-
lems in the world can be traced back to production for export. Consumers do not see the
e
fi
ects of their consumption behavior due to the teleconnection between areas of con-
sumption and areas of production. The bene
ff
ts are on the consumption side, but since
water is generally grossly underpriced, the costs remain on the production side. From a
water resources point of view it would be wise for the exporting countries in the world to
review their water use for export and see to what extent this is good policy given the fact
that the foreign income associated with the exports generally does not cover most of the
costs associated with the use of water. The construction of dams and irrigation schemes
and even operation and maintenance costs are often covered by the national or state gov-
ernment. Negative e
fi
ects downstream and the social and environmental costs involved
are not included in the price of the export products either.
ff
The effect of international trade on local water pollution
International trade brings another phenomenon: natural cycles of nutrients such as nitro-
gen and phosphorus are disturbed through depletion of the soil in some places, excessive
use of fertilizers in others, long-distance transfers of food and animal feed, and concen-
trated disposal of nutrient-rich wastes in densely populated areas of the world (Grote et
al., 2005). This has already led and will further lead to depletion of the soil in some areas
(Sanchez, 2002; Stocking, 2003) and eutrophication of water elsewhere (McIsaac et al.,
2001; Tilman et al., 2001). The surplus of nutrients in the Netherlands, for instance, is par-
tially related to deforestation, erosion and soil degradation in those areas of the world that
export food and feed to the Netherlands, for example in Brazil, which exports large
amounts of soybeans for Dutch pigs and chickens. This implies that the nutrient surplus
in the Netherlands is not an issue that can simply be understood as a Dutch issue. Dutch
water pollution is part of the global economy.
The disturbance of nutrient cycles is not the only mechanism through which international
trade in
uences the quality of water resources worldwide. Meybeck (2004) shows how other
substances are also dispersed into the global environment and change the quality of the
world's rivers. Nriagu and Pacyna (1988) set out the speci
fl
c impacts of the use of trace
metals in the global economy on the world's water resources. The regular publication of new
reports on global pollution shows that this phenomenon in itself is no longer news; what is
now gradually being uncovered and is therefore relatively new is the fact that pollution is
not simply 'global' because pollution is so 'widespread', but that it is interlinked with how
the global economy works and is therefore a true global problem. Water pollution is inter-
twined with the global economic system to such an extent that it cannot be dealt with inde-
pendently from that global economy. Indeed, pollution can be tackled by end-of-pipe
measures at or near the location of the pollution, but a more cause-oriented approach would
be to restructure the (rules for the) global economy, with the aim to close the element cycles.
fi
The effect of water availability on international trade
There is an immense volume of literature on international trade, but few scholars address
the question of to what extent international trade is in
fl
uenced by regional di
ff
erences in
water availability. Rather, international trade is explained in terms of di
ff
erences in labor
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