Disaggregating the Drivers of Virtual Water Flows under Global Change

Globalization has been a key driver of unprecedented global economic growth, impacting coupled virtual water flows and anthropogenic activities as well as climate change. Virtual water flows reflect water resource allocations that are adversely affected by the globalization of competition processes that integrate economies around the world. Virtual water flows are exchanged but hidden in the production of goods (e.g. food) and services, and our capacity to systematically understand and mitigate risks to food security and wider resource systems is still limited. Disaggregating the drivers of virtual water flows embedded in food systems and other modes of production would enable an improved understanding of the potential contribution of different measures to expand or restrict virtual water transfers embedded in, for example, food systems through the lens of global change. Recent advancement in science and technology provides a new way to investigate the changes in different embodied flows such as water, energy, and greenhouse gases, which can inform mitigation and adaptation strategies.
The goal of this research topic is to present state-of-art research on evolving mechanisms and drivers of virtual water and quantify water and energy flows using innovative approaches such as machine-learning models and life-cycle assessment. We aim to advance our understanding of complex interactions between water-food-climate systems in order to inform governance of water resources for humans, ecosystems, agriculture, and industry in the face of climate change.
Relevant topics include but not limited to:
-drivers, patterns, and evolutionary characteristics of virtual water fluxes in a changing environment;
-impacts of climatic shocks on the food systems;
-application of life cycle-analysis and machine-learning models in monitoring, assessing, and forecasting virtual water flows for different agrarian commodities;
-construction of novel calculation indicators for virtual water fluxes, energy, and food nexus.

Keywords: globalization, virtual water flows, water-food-energy nexus, scenario analysis, machine learning

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