Recent research results and approaches
22nd of March is UN-World-Water-Day.
The UN World Water Dayhas been established at the UN-Conference of Environment and Development 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. On the World Water Day the UN member states should concentrate on the implementation of UN recommendations on water issues. Additionally, we are in the middle of the International Decade for Action “Water for Life” (2005-20015), which was declared by the UN, in order to focus on water-related topics and the implementation of corresponding programs.
Background
Water is playing a significant role on our planet. From an anthropogenic point of view, water is of great importance not only for direct consumption like supply of drinking water, food production and the production of energy and other products. Water is also essential for our ecosystems and the services these systems provide to human beings (climate, leisure time, etc).
Although water is a renewable resource, there is a limitation in its availability. In many regions of the world the consumption of water exceeds the available reserve, which leads to water scarcity, declining groundwater levels and rising water pollution. It is important to discuss water issues in a global context and detect the interconnections between economic, ecological and social facts, as growing trade between states and continents leads to a higher amount of water being used in the production of export goods. That means that actually not only the product but also the “hidden” water use is part of the trade, which is also known as “virtual water”. This perception should result in new assessments of water scarcity and water management in arid regions.
SERI: actual research on water topics
The Sustainable Europe Research Institute – SERI – works on the quantification and visualisation of the world-wide correlations between resource use of diverse players, transport, which results of the linkages of global trade, and associated impacts on the environment and the local as well as the global social system and the economy. The focus lies on analysing the effects of the western lifestyle in Europe on the living conditions and the possibilities of development of people in other parts of the world.
In this context and especially in the context of trade with “virtual water” it is of great importance to analyse which of our actions and accordingly the production of which products account for a high water consumption and which less. SERI is working on this topic at different levels:
Water Footprint of a land or a region
More than 60% of the required water for the production of goods consumed in Austria is imported from abroad.
In an international context the “Water Footprint” is gaining economical and political importance. The export of especially water-intense products can have immediate effects on environment and economy. Therefore it may be more reasonable for a country with few water resources to specialise on the production and the export of goods with low water requirements and to import (agricultural) products with a high content of virtual water. SERI is member of the Water Footprint Network and involved in the discussion on conceptual questions.
Water Footprint of a commercial sector
About 70% of the extracted water of worldwide ecosystems is being used in agriculture
Not only on a macro level, also on the level of specific commercial sectors specific data on water consumption are relevant. Based on the identification of the sectors with the biggest/lowest Water Footprint strategies can be developed how the Water Footprint can be reduced. At the moment detailed data on the water consumption of different sectors are mainly missing. Eurostat has assigned a project to SERI together with an experienced consortium to develop a plan how to collect data on water consumption in Europe.
Water Footprint of products
The production of 1 kilogramme leaf spinach needs about 100 litre water.
SERI cooperates in several projects with retailer and trade chains to calculate the Water Footprint of specific products – the consumption of water through the whole production process. Such an analysis of a broad range of products can give more insight in the water consumption related to a specific consumption style and allows to draw conclusions for effective policy options such as labelling strategies.
Ongoing projects:
Eurostat Lot 3 – water/energy accounts
The aim of this project is to provide Eurostat with assistance to the methodological development of water and energy accounts. SERI is leading a highly qualified consortium consisting of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Statistics Sweden, Statistics Germany and University of Twente which is working in this 2-years project. SERI as overall project leader is also leading Activity 1 on water accounts, while the Wuppertal Institute is the leader of Activity 2 (energy accounts). [more]
EXIOPOL
A New Environmental Accounting Framework Using Externality Data and Input-Output Tools for Policy Analysis
EXIOPOL sets up a detailed economy-environment model to estimate environmental impacts and external costs of different economic sectors and of the consumption of natural resources (energy, materials, land) for countries in the European Union. [more]
MELIA
Mediteranean Dialogue on Integrated Water Management
The aim of the project is to establish a strategic dialogue between experts, scientists, consumers and producers on integrates water ressource management in the mediteranean region. SERI is leader of WP 7 “Water Participatory Management and Water Governance” and contributing to WP 9 “Knowledge share” and WP 10 “Performance, social and sustainability indicators”. [more]
BRIX – Business Resource Intensity Index
This project aims at developing a system to measure and assess the resource intensity of products, services and companies – the Business Resource Intensity Index (BRIX). To realise that, the project consortium cooperates closely with three Austrian companies. [more]
Datacentres for natural resources and products
This project will set up the structure for the Data Centres for Natural Resources and Products. Existing tools as well as sources of relevant data will be analysed, in order to identify potential elements of the Data Centres. The aim of the Data Centres is to enable the assessment of the relationship between resource use, economic growth and environmental impacts. [more]
Ecological Sustainability SPAR
The trading enterprise SPAR Austria has integrated environmental protection in the company principles. This project aims to measure and further improve the resource efficiency and sustainability performance in the several divisions of SPAR Austria. [mehr]
Kontakt:
DI Stephan Lutter, SERI, (0043 1) 969 07 28 – 14, [email protected]
DI Doris Schnepf, Hydrip, (0043 1) 236 10 30 – 48, [email protected]