文章基本信息

标题：Cultural, Socio-Economic and Political Constraints for Virtual Water Trade: Perspectives from the Volta Basin, West Africa.
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作者：Wolfram Laube ; Eva Youkhana
期刊名称：ZEF Working Papers Series
电子版ISSN：1864-6638
出版年度：2006
期号：12-18,65-67
出版社：University of Bonn
摘要：Trade in virtual water, the substitution of the use of scarce water resources for agricultural production by imports from water-rich countries has been said to be a potential solution to water crises and water conflicts throughout water-stressed regions worldwide. While trade in foodstuffs may have helped to alleviate water stress in parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa and provides an efficient response to the periodic drought occurrences, it has to be doubted whether virtual water trade is a water governance option that can be applied in many countries of the South. As examples from the West African Volta River Basin suggest, cultural values focussing on agricultural and livestock production, socio-economic factors such as a low level of education and a strong dependency of livelihoods on subsistence agriculture, weak governments that are unable to trigger and finance large-scale reform processes, as well as dysfunctional and unfair market systems largely limit the widespread applicability of virtual water trade.
关键词：virtual water trade; water stress in the Volta River Basin; socio-political and cultural values of food production