This session aims to investigate the extent to which water footprint assessments and other analyses can be used to develop food and water security strategies. We present contributions from geophysical, environmental, political and socio-economic domains. The session includes contributions that:
- Develop and compare methods to quantify and map green, blue and grey water footprints, assess the implications of water footprint concepts for water scarcity, sustainability, and water pollution, and analyze uncertainties in the calculation of water footprints;
- Develop water footprint scenarios and analyze the application of water footprint assessment in strategies of water governance and corporate water stewardship;
- Investigate the structures, dynamics and controls of the virtual water trade network and discuss the political economy implications of virtual water trade and its relation with policy at the regional and international scale;
- Assess the impact of agricultural production on local and global water resources and analyse the challenges on water resources and food security posed by social conflicts and large-scale land acquisitions;
- Focus on the role of irrigation in improving food security, particularly in developing countries, and on water management practices and impacts of regional, global and transboundary irrigation;
- Propose analyses and models in support of water and food polices, institutions, development and management.
This session is jointly developed with the framework of the Panta Rhei Research Initiative of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) under the research theme of Water Footprint Assessment.