Economics of Virtual Water
Abstract
Every living creature needs water to continue living. Water as a vital need for human being has been classified as a public good till 1992. In 1992 at the “Water and Sustainable Development” conference which was held at Dublin Ireland it was suggested that water needs to be treated as an economic good. In fact, water is a scarce resource only that the 2% of the whole water resources are usable for humanitarian needs. Countries around the world having different kinds of usable water recourses have increased the strategic importance of water. On the other hand the transportation of water is hard and also needs high costs. In 1993 Professor J. A. Allan has claimed that water is used in the production of most goods and this water which is used during the production process can be traded virtually by selling or buying of the final product. This idea has been used as a foreign trade policy by the countries which have scarce water resources. With the current data’s and researches the benefits and loss of virtual water trade is analyzed.
Keywords
Environmental Economics, Water Trade, Virtual Water, Public Economy, Virtual Water Trade
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