Arjen Y. Hoekstra & Ashok K. Chapagain 
Globalization of Water 
Sharing the Planet’s Freshwater Resources

Globalization of Water is a first-of-its-kind review of the
critical relationship between globalization and sustainable water
management. It explores the impact of international trade on local
water depletion and pollution and identifies ‘water
dependent’ nations.

* Examines the critical link between water management and
international trade, considering how local water depletion and
pollution are often closely tied to the structure of the global
economy

* Offers a consumer-based indicator of each nation’s water
use: the water footprint

* Questions whether trade can enhance global water use
efficiency, or whether it simply shifts the environmental burden to
a distant location

* Highlights the hidden link between national consumption and the
use of water resources across the globe, identifying the threats
facing ‘water dependent’ countries worldwide

* Provides a state-of-the-art review and in-depth data source for
a new field of knowledge

Table of Content

List of Maps.

Preface.

1. Introduction.

2. How much Water is used for Producing our Goods and
Services?.

3. Virtual-Water Flows between Nations as a Result of Trade in
Agricultural and Industrial Products.

4. Water Saving through International Trade in Agricultural
Products.

5. The Water Footprints of Nations.

6. The Water Footprints of Morocco and the Netherlands.

7. Virtual- versus Real-Water Transfers within China.

8. The Water Footprint of Coffee and Tea Consumption.

9. The Water Footprint of Cotton Consumption.

10. Water as a Geopolitical Resource.

11. Efficient, Sustainable, and Equitable Water Use in a
Globalized world.

Appendix I. Analytical Framework for the Assessment of
Virtual-Water content, Virtual-Water Flows, Water Savings, Water
Footprints, and Water Dependencies.

Appendix II. Virtual-Water Flows per Country Related to
International Trade in Crop, Livestock, and Industrial
Products.

Appendix III. National Water Savings and Losses due to Trade in
Agricultural Products.

Appendix IV. Water Footprints of Nations.

Appendix V. Water Footprint versus Water Scarcity,
Self-Sufficiency, and Water Import Dependency per Country.

Glossary.

References.

Index

About the author

Arjen Y. Hoekstra has academic and professional experience
in the field of integrated water resources management in various
countries and is currently Professor of Multidisciplinary Water
Management at the University of Twente, the Netherlands.

Ashok K. Chapagain has been an irrigation engineer in
Nepal, received his Ph D degree at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for
Water Education in Delft, the Netherlands, was employed as
researcher at the University of Twente, and currently works for the
World Wide Fund for Nature in the UK.