Dalin, Carole and Conway, Declan
(2016)
Water resources transfers through southern African food trade:
water efficiency and climate signals.
Environmental Research Letters, 11
.
ISSN 1748-9326
Abstract
Temporal and spatial variability of precipitation in southern Africa is particularly high. The
associated drought and
flood risks, combined with a largely rain-fed agriculture, pose a challenge for
water and food security in the region. As regional collaboration strengthens through the Southern Africa
Development Community and trade with other regions increases, it is thus important to understand both
how climate variability affects agricultural productivity and how food trade (regional and extra-regional) can
contribute to the region's capacity to deal with climate-related shocks. We combine global hydrological model
simulations with international food trade data to quantify the water resources embedded in international
food trade in southern Africa and with the rest of the world, from 1986-2011. We analyze the impacts of
socio-economic, political, and climatic changes on agricultural trade and embedded water resources during
this period. We find that regional food trade is efficient in terms of water use but may be unsustainable
because water-productive exporters, like South Africa, rely on increasingly stressed water resources. The
role of imports from the rest of the world in the region's food supply is important, in particular during severe
droughts. This reflects how trade can efficiently redistribute water resources across continents in response to
a sudden gap in food production and water productivity. In a context of regional and global integration, our
results highlight opportunities for improved water-efficiency and sustainability of the region's food supply
via trade.
Actions (login required)
 |
Record administration - authorised staff only |
Download statistics
Download statistics