UNESCO-IHE hosts symposium about Virtual Water

The aim of the symposium is to make a link between the worldwide energy market and virtual water.

The trade of potential energy carriers, such as corn and cotton to countries without natural energy resources has impact on the use of water during its growth production and processing. With the trade of these energy carriers, there is automatically a virtual water trade between importing and exporting countries.

At the symposium the impact of emerging biofuels on virtual water trade as well as on world food prices will be addressed.

In a more global world, international trading and economic growth are booming. Nowadays, for a certain price every country can import non-domestic goods. This generates an export flow that will cause an increasing demand on the water resources of producing countries. To prevent local water-scarcity, it might be necessary to think of a redistribution of products according to the local water resources in the countries involved.

On top of that, there is an emerging problem regarding biofuels. Recent reports warn and indicate that rising food prices may be caused by increased biofuel production. The root of the problem is complex, yet significant enough to make the EU government reconsider the stated policy of getting 10% of Europe’s road fuels from plants.

At the symposium speakers will address questions such as: Will biofuels, like water, induce conflict in the future? Does the development of biofuels impact water scarcity? Are developments in the field of environmental friendly and sustainable energy water positive? To what extent are biofuels the real cause of the rising prices on the world food market?

Timetable

Organisation

The symposium is organized by the "Dispuut Watermanagement", a student’s association for those related to the water management sector in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geo-sciences at TU-Delft.

Press

Please contact Cristina Gonzalez (c.gonzalez@unesco-ihe.org) or Ewoud Kok (e.kok@unesco-ihe.org)