Water footprint(WF)measures human appropriation of water resources for consumptive use of surface and ground water(blue WF)and soil water(green WF)and for assimilating polluted water(grey WF).Questions have been often...Water footprint(WF)measures human appropriation of water resources for consumptive use of surface and ground water(blue WF)and soil water(green WF)and for assimilating polluted water(grey WF).Questions have been often asked about the exact meaning behind the numbers from WF accounting.However,to date environmental sustainability of WF has never been assessed at the sub-national level over time.This study evaluated the environmental sustainability of blue,green and grey WF for China’s 31 mainland provinces in 2002,2007 and 2012,and identified the unsustainable hotspots.Overall,the total WF increased by 30%between 2002 and 2012.The growth can be attributed to the increase of grey WF because the green and blue WF showed only a slight rise.Among all provinces investigated in 2012,eleven showed unsustainable blue WF(sustainability index SI<0),which were mainly located in the North China Plain.There were 12 provinces that displayed unsustainable green WF,and they were distributed in China’s southern and southeastern areas.The grey WF was not sustainable in approximately two third of provinces(19),which were mainly located in China’s middle and northern regions and Guangdong province.More than half of China’s provinces showed trends of improved SI of green and blue WF from 2002 to 2012.However,the SI of grey WF decreased in almost two third of provinces.Poor levels of WF sustainability were due to water scarcity and pollution,which intensify the degradation of local rivers and ecosystems and make restoration more difficult.The results shed light on the policy making needed to improve sustainable water management,and ecological restoration of hotspot regions.展开更多
Given that it was a once-in-a-century emergency event,the confinement measures related to the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic caused diverse disruptions and changes in life and work patterns.These changes s...Given that it was a once-in-a-century emergency event,the confinement measures related to the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic caused diverse disruptions and changes in life and work patterns.These changes significantly affected water consumption both during and after the pandemic,with direct and indirect consequences on biodiversity.However,there has been a lack of holistic evaluation of these responses.Here,we propose a novel framework to study the impacts of this unique global emergency event by embedding an environmentally extended supply-constrained global multi-regional input-output model(MRIO)into the drivers-pressure-state-impact-response(DPSIR)framework.This framework allowed us to develop scenarios related to COVID-19 confinement measures to quantify country-sector-specific changes in freshwater consumption and the associated changes in biodiversity for the period of 2020-2025.The results suggest progressively diminishing impacts due to the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines and the socio-economic system’s self-adjustment to the new normal.In 2020,the confinement measures were estimated to decrease global water consumption by about 5.7% on average across all scenarios when compared with the baseline level with no confinement measures.Further,such a decrease is estimated to lead to a reduction of around 5% in the related pressure on biodiversity.Given the interdependencies and interactions across global supply chains,even those countries and sectors that were not directly affected by the COVID-19 shocks experienced significant impacts:Our results indicate that the supply chain propagations contributed to 79% of the total estimated decrease in water consumption and 84%of the reduction in biodiversity loss on average.Our study demonstrates that the MRIO-enhanced DSPIR framework can help quantify resource pressures and the resultant environmental impacts across supply chains when facing a global emergency event.Further,we recommend the development of more locally based water conservation measures—to mitigate the effects of trade disruptions—and the explicit inclusion of water resources in post-pandemic recovery schemes.In addition,innovations that help conserve natural resources are essential for maintaining environmental gains in the post-pandemic world.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41625001)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA20060402)+4 种基金the Pengcheng Scholar Program of Shenzhen,the National High-level Talents Special Support Plan(“Ten Thousand Talents Plan”)the Leading Innovative Talent Program for young and middle-aged scholars by the Ministry of Science and Technologysupported by the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control(Grant No.2017B030301012)the State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Controlthe High-level Special Funding of the Southern University of Science and Technology(Grant No.G02296302,G02296402).
文摘Water footprint(WF)measures human appropriation of water resources for consumptive use of surface and ground water(blue WF)and soil water(green WF)and for assimilating polluted water(grey WF).Questions have been often asked about the exact meaning behind the numbers from WF accounting.However,to date environmental sustainability of WF has never been assessed at the sub-national level over time.This study evaluated the environmental sustainability of blue,green and grey WF for China’s 31 mainland provinces in 2002,2007 and 2012,and identified the unsustainable hotspots.Overall,the total WF increased by 30%between 2002 and 2012.The growth can be attributed to the increase of grey WF because the green and blue WF showed only a slight rise.Among all provinces investigated in 2012,eleven showed unsustainable blue WF(sustainability index SI<0),which were mainly located in the North China Plain.There were 12 provinces that displayed unsustainable green WF,and they were distributed in China’s southern and southeastern areas.The grey WF was not sustainable in approximately two third of provinces(19),which were mainly located in China’s middle and northern regions and Guangdong province.More than half of China’s provinces showed trends of improved SI of green and blue WF from 2002 to 2012.However,the SI of grey WF decreased in almost two third of provinces.Poor levels of WF sustainability were due to water scarcity and pollution,which intensify the degradation of local rivers and ecosystems and make restoration more difficult.The results shed light on the policy making needed to improve sustainable water management,and ecological restoration of hotspot regions.
基金supported by Aalto University and the Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Hydrosphere and Watershed Water SecurityAdditional support was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42361144001,72304112,72074136,and 72104129)the Key Program of International Cooperation,Bureau of International Cooperation,the Chinese Academy of Sciences(131551KYSB20210030).
文摘Given that it was a once-in-a-century emergency event,the confinement measures related to the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic caused diverse disruptions and changes in life and work patterns.These changes significantly affected water consumption both during and after the pandemic,with direct and indirect consequences on biodiversity.However,there has been a lack of holistic evaluation of these responses.Here,we propose a novel framework to study the impacts of this unique global emergency event by embedding an environmentally extended supply-constrained global multi-regional input-output model(MRIO)into the drivers-pressure-state-impact-response(DPSIR)framework.This framework allowed us to develop scenarios related to COVID-19 confinement measures to quantify country-sector-specific changes in freshwater consumption and the associated changes in biodiversity for the period of 2020-2025.The results suggest progressively diminishing impacts due to the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines and the socio-economic system’s self-adjustment to the new normal.In 2020,the confinement measures were estimated to decrease global water consumption by about 5.7% on average across all scenarios when compared with the baseline level with no confinement measures.Further,such a decrease is estimated to lead to a reduction of around 5% in the related pressure on biodiversity.Given the interdependencies and interactions across global supply chains,even those countries and sectors that were not directly affected by the COVID-19 shocks experienced significant impacts:Our results indicate that the supply chain propagations contributed to 79% of the total estimated decrease in water consumption and 84%of the reduction in biodiversity loss on average.Our study demonstrates that the MRIO-enhanced DSPIR framework can help quantify resource pressures and the resultant environmental impacts across supply chains when facing a global emergency event.Further,we recommend the development of more locally based water conservation measures—to mitigate the effects of trade disruptions—and the explicit inclusion of water resources in post-pandemic recovery schemes.In addition,innovations that help conserve natural resources are essential for maintaining environmental gains in the post-pandemic world.
