China’s crop-related water footprint and trade

In this chapter, the authors present long-term changes and variabilities in crop-related water footprints, virtual water flows, and water scarcity at both national and river basin scale in China, through several case studies. Water footprint of food consumption per capita in China decreased across all the scenarios as compared to the baseline year (927 m3 cap-1 y-1 ), driven by the decreased Water Footprint (WF) per tonne of most crops. The authors show past, current, and future WFs and virtual water flows related to crop production, consumption, and trade in China, at both national and basin scale. The Yellow River Basin, located in the North, experienced improved crop yields and associated smaller water footprints per unit of crop, but nowadays about half of the area of the basin suffers severe blue water scarcity even in the wet months of a wet year.