The Swedish Water Footprint Introduction Sweden s demand of water is not only expressed through the water withdrawn from rivers lakes and aquifers within Sweden. Our nation is to a large extent dependent on the import of goods produced outside our countries, containing different amounts of so called virtual water. Virtual water is the volume of water required to produce a certain product. For example a can of cola contains,35 litres of water, yet it requires 2 litres of sugar to grow and process the sugar. Swedish life style is depended on water from many nations, making our lives inextricably linked with what happens elsewhere. The water footprint of a nation, is the total water consumed within a country, and consists of two parts the internal and the external water footprint. Agriculture stands for over 7 % of the global water use. Irrigation-fed agriculture provides 45 per cent of the world s food supplies. Many of the world's irrigation areas, are highly stressed and drawing more water than rivers and groundwater reserves can sustain, with large consequences for humans and nature. Experts predict that water availability will be one of the major challenges facing human society and that the lack of water may be a key factor limiting development. The total amount of water withdrawn or extracted from freshwater systems has risen 35-fold in the past 3 years. It is important that the Swedish government, business as well as consumers have awareness of water issues outside our water border and what impact we are having as a nation on water resources outside Sweden. The Water footprint of Sweden The average per capita water footprint of Sweden is 215 m 3 /person/yr. The global average WF is (Chapagain and Orr 28) 1564 m3/person/yr. The WF of UK is 1695 m3/person/yr whereas that of the USA is 2895 m3/person/yr. Swedish consumption is relatively water intensive (186 m 3 /person/yr Netherlands). On a daily bases, the average Swedish water footprint is 589 litres/per person/day. Out of which 424 is related to the consumption of agricultural products, 132 is related to the industrial products, and 33 for household water use. The daily personal water footprint is equivalent to the 1 loads of an average washing machine run. (Ex. 74 bathtubs full of water) As a comparison The UK average water footprint per day and person is 4625 litres/per person/day (58 bath a day). We use 33 litres for household, but about 17 times more virtual water for the food we eat and the cloths we wear. The results show that Sweden is 49% self sufficient in water (the ratio of internal WF to the total WF) and does therefore 51% dependent on water from elsewhere.
Table 1. Total Water footprint of Sweden Water footprint (Gm 3 /yr). Internal External Total % of total Agricultural 7.2 6.6 13.8 72.% Industrial products 1.17 3.12 4.29 22.4% Household water use 1.8-1.8 5.6% Total (Gm 3 /yr) 9.4 9.7 19.2 1% % of total 49% 51% 1% Including consumption of industrial products and household water use in Sweden, the total water footprint of Sweden comes out to be 19.2 Gm 3 /year. Table 2. Top net agriculture virtual water importers compared with the Swedish imports. Relative Country Export Import Net import position 1 Brazil 91 199 17 2 Mexico 19 13 84 3 Japan 4 86 83 4 China 55 133 78 5 Italy 38 88 5 6 UK 15 55 4 32 Sweden 3.7 7.7 4. In the list of largest net importers Sweden stands at 32 nd position from the top. WF OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS The agricultural WF of the Sweden is 13.8 Gm 3 /yr (table 1) or 72% of the total WF. The internal WF of Swedish agriculture is 7.2 Gm 3 /yr while the external component is 6.6 Gm 3 /yr.
16. 14. Internal WF External WF Total agricultural WF External WF, 6.6 13.8 12. 1. 9.6 Internal WF, 7.2 Water footprint (Gm 3 /yr) 8. 6. 4. 4.4 5.2 2.8 4.2 7.2 6.6 2. 1.4. Crop Livestock Total Figure 1. Total agricultural WF of Sweden. Water footprint by product type A larger share of the internal WF is related to livestock production and cereal products (wheat, barley and oats), whereas the larger share of the external WF is related to products originating from coffee, Cocoa, oil crops, cotton products and livestock. The WF of livestock products is about 31% of the total agricultural WF of the Sweden. Most of the products responsible for the external WF are not grown in the Sweden mainly because of unsuitable agro-climatic conditions. The various crop categories and their internal and external components are presented in Figure 2. Water Footprint (m3/person/yr) 18 16 14 12 1 8 6 166 Total WF related to crop products (m3/person/yr) = 171 152 141 1 97 58 52 Internal, 493 External, 578 14 4 2 8 7 33 21 23 2 18 34 Wheat Barley Coffee Cotton Oats Soybeans Rapeseed Cocoa beans Sugar beets Oilseeds nes Rice Others Figure 2. Contribution of crop products to Swedish internal and external WF.
The livestock footprint (figure 3) shows that beef (bovine) is the largest category followed by milk, swine (pig meat comprising bacon and pork) and poultry meat. The various livestock products and their internal and external components are presented in Figure 3. The share of the internal WF related to livestock products (66%) is larger than the external component. The main products produced internally are milk, beef and poultry, and externally, beef and swine. Water footprint (m3/person/yr) 14 12 1 8 6 4 2 Total WF related to livestock products (m 3 /person/yr) = 476 Internal External 93 84 127 22 71 3 17 9 Internal 314 2 1 2 External 162 Bovine Milk Swine Livestock nes Layer Eggs Others 13 5 Figure 3. Contribution of livestock products to Sweden s internal and external WF. Water footprint by region The external WF of the Sweden is presented in table 3. Most of the products that make up the Sweden s external WF originate from Brazil, Denmark, Germany, India, Colombia and USA. Brazil provides coffee and soybean, which is mainly rainfed. Denmark provides mainly livestock products. India provides cotton and rice. Table 3 shows the top twelve countries of origin of the products that make up the Sweden s external agricultural WF. Table 3: Top twelve countries supporting Sweden s external agricultural WF (Mm 3 /yr). Country EWF (Mm 3 /yr) % of EWF Major product categories (Mm 3 /yr) Brazil 93 14% Coffee (497) Soybeans (32) Bovine (69) Oranges (16) Livestock nes (9) Cocoa beans (7) Denmark 496 7% Swine (159) Bovine (66) Milk (62) Barley (43) Livestock nes (31) Germany 486 7% Rapeseed (153) Bovine (142) Swine (52) Milk (31) Livestock nes (3) Oilseeds nes (19) India 349 5% Cotton (226) Castor beans (52) Rice (29) Coffee (13) Tobacco (7) Oilseeds nes (6) Colombia 222 3% Coffee (24) Bananas (17) Cotton (2) Cocoa beans (1) Bovine (1) Oil palm fruit (1) USA 26 3% Soybeans (122) Cotton (27) Almonds (15) Rice (11) Grapes (6) Wheat (4) Italy 184 3% Bovine (42) Olives (32) Rice (25) Grapes (19) Kiwi fruit (11) Rapeseed (11) Cote divoire 174 3% Cocoa beans (162) Bananas (7) Coffee (4) Cotton (2) Oil palm fruit (1) Mangoes (1) Ireland 162 2% Bovine (149) Milk (5) Swine (5) Sheep (4) Sugar crops nes (1) Livestock nes (1) Spain 158 2% Grapes (41) Oranges (22) Almonds (17) Rice (13) Tang.Mand.Clement.Satsma (13) Olives (1) Netherlands 144 2% Bovine (4) Milk (24) Oil palm fruit (16) Swine (13) Castor beans (12)
Livestock nes (11) Kenya 134 2% Coffee (128) Tea (6) Avocados (1) Beans (1) Tobacco (1) Pineapples (1) Others 2979 45% Total 6623 1% Table 4 shows the top twelve agricultural products consumed in Sweden (accounting for 8% of the total Swedish WF relating to agricultural products), their associated external WF and their countries of origin. Table 4: Major locations of the external WF of for the Sweden s top twelve agricultural products. Products EWF % of Location of EWF (Mm 3 /yr) EWF (Mm 3 /yr) Coffee 1262 19% Brazil (496) Colombia (23) Kenya (127) Peru (77) Honduras (55) Guatemala (5) Cotton 896 14% India (226) Bangladesh (88) Turkey (81) Hong Kong (78) Pakistan (77) China (51) Bovine 751 11% Ireland (148) Germany (141) Brazil (69) Hungary (67) Denmark (65) Italy (42) Soybeans 52 8% Brazil (319) USA (121) Argentina (42) Paraguay (18) Uruguay (3) Canada (2) Cocoa beans 467 7% Cote Divoire (162) Ghana (117) Nigeria (75) Cameroon (58) Ecuador (6) Brazil (6) Rapeseed 291 4% Germany (152) France (49) Denmark (27) Italy (1) Czech Rep (9) Australia (7) Swine 271 4% Denmark (159) Germany (51) Finland (13) Netherlands (12) Belgium (11) Italy (4) Milk 192 3% Denmark (61) Germany (3) Finland (25) Netherlands (24) France (12) Italy (6) Oilseeds nes 178 3% China (55) Germany (18) Hungary (14) Austria (13) Ghana (11) Benin (8) Rice 165 2% Thailand (63) India (29) Italy (24) Spain (13) Pakistan (11) USA (11) Livestock nes 154 2% Denmark (31) Germany (29) Hungary (14) Finland (119) Netherlands (11) Brazil (8) Oil palm fruit 142 2% Indonesia (59) Malaysia (44 Netherlands (16) Germany (6) Thailand (4) Denmark (2) Bananas 1333 2% Grapes 6623 1%
Brazil 5. Denmark Germany India USA Colombia China Cote divoireireland Italy Spain Kenya Netherlands France Indonesia Ghana Hungary Finland Turkey Pakistan Bangladesh Thailand Nigeria Peru Argentina Cameroon Guatemala Poland Honduras Malaysia Costa rica Norway Austria Greece Mexico Estonia Ukraine Ecuador Uganda Lithuania Russia Panama New zealand Uruguay Ukraine South africa Australia Latvia Viet nam Paraguay Ethiopia Uzbekistan Philippines Nicaragua Czech rep Morocco El salvador Portugal Tanzania Bulgaria Canada Zimbabwe Togo Dominican RPSri Llanka Israel Benin Romania Egypt Chile Burundi Kazakstan Sudan Rwanda Syria Chad Malawi Cyprus Moldova Switz.liecht Guyana Laos Mali Cuba Mauritius Iran Tunisia Venezuela Turkmenistan Burkina faso Mozambique Cambodia Belarus Tajikistan Eq Guinea Iceland Zambia Guinea Jamaica Suriname Swaziland Senegal Bolivia Myanmar Belize External agricultural water footprint of Sweden (Million m3/yr) A 5. Papua New Guinea 5. Congo DR Liberia Botswana Cent.af.rep.5 Haiti Namibia Sierra leone Fiji Angola Bahrain Saudi arabia Trinidad tbg Niger Albania Guineabissau Gabon Azerbaijan Kyrgyzstan KoreaDPR D B Georgia Nepal Algeria Lebanon Yemen Gambia.1 Barbados Oman Japan Korea R Mongolia C UAE Iraq Cape verde Jordan Malta Afghanistan Lesotho. % % 1% 1% 1% 1% Stress Indicator = (Water withdrawal/(actual rrenewable water resources environmental flow requirement) % Figure 3. Sweden s agricultural water footprint and water stressed production sites The figures compares Sweden s external water footprint with water stress in respective country. The countries falling into circle D indicates those countries where Sweden s consumption of water is having the largest impact on the water resources.
India is one country from where Sweden sources a lot of commodities, i. g rice and cotton. Today water withdrawal poses a serious threat to the Ganges river system. Over extraction of agriculture in the Ganges has caused the reduction in surface water resources. This has increased dependence of groundwater, loss of water based livelihoods and the destruction of habitat for 19 fish species. Over extraction of groundwater has seriously affected water quality. Climate change will exacerbate the problems caused by water extraction. The Himalayan glaciers are estimated to supply 3-4% of the water in the Ganges.