Regional Carrying Capacities of Freshwater Consumption—Current Pressure and Its Sources

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c01544
• Publication Date: 2020-06-23T21:05:08Z
• Authors: Masaharu Motoshita; Stephan Pfister; Matthias Finkbeiner
• Keywords: Overconsumption; Carrying Capacity; Consumption; Virtual water; Planetary boundaries

Sustainable freshwater management is an essential target for sustainability. The concept of planetary boundaries evaluates whether the environmental loads from humans are within carrying capacity environment at a global level, while region-specific assessment capacities consumption can complement global-scale sustainability by shedding light on regional We show that 24% total exceeds based spatially and temporally explicit analysis (monthly data around 11 000 watersheds). Although 19% current determined as "luxury consumption" beyond basic needs, approximately 60% exceedance attributed to needs sustaining human life. International trade alleviates overall pressure 4.8% (18.9 billion m3) level through virtual water trade; however, several producer countries demonstrate additional overconsumption capacities, importer do so mitigate overconsumption. Appropriate irrigation location crop production keys maintain our levels scale. However, measures necessitate consideration watershed-specific economic conditions desirable.