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Advancing Water Footprint Assessment Research: Challenges in Monitoring Progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6
Open accessAbstract
This special issue is a collection of recent papers in the field of Water Footprint Assessment (WFA), an emerging area of research focused on the analysis of freshwater use, scarcity, and pollution in relation to consumption, production, and trade. As increasing freshwater scarcity forms a major risk to the global economy, sustainable management of water resources is a prerequisite to development. We introduce the papers in this special issue by relating them to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 6 of the United Nations, the goal on water. We will particularly articulate how each paper drives the understanding needed to achieve target 6.3 on water quality and pollution and target 6.4 on water-use efficiency and water scarcity. Regarding SDG 6, we conclude that it lacks any target on using green water more efficiently, and while addressing efficiency and sustainability of water use, it lacks a target on equitable sharing of water. The latter issue is receiving limited attention in research as well. By primarily focusing on water-use efficiency in farming and industries at the local level, to a lesser extent to using water sustainably at the level of total water systems (like drainage basins, aquifers), and largely ignoring issues around equitable water use, understanding of our water problems and proposed solutions will likely remain unbalanced.
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“The WF estimation depends heavily on the availability of baseline data, which is often either unavailable or not freely accessible [46,47].”
From The water footprint of lithium extraction technologies: Insights from environmental impact reports in Argentina's salt flats (2025) · cites this paper as [46]
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Cites
Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet
Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockström, J., Cornell, S. E., Fetzer, I., Bennett, E. M., Biggs, R., Carpenter, S. R., de Vries, W., de Wit, C. A., et al. (2015) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1259855 · Cited by 12,527
The water footprint of humanity
Hoekstra, A. Y., & Mekonnen, M. M. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1109936109 · Cited by 2,405
Self-citationWater footprints of nations: Water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern
Hoekstra, A. Y., & Chapagain, A. K. (2006) · Water Resources Management · doi:10.1007/s11269-006-9039-x · Cited by 1,458 · cited 1×
“Water-intensive commodities like agricultural, forestry, and mining products are internationally traded, which implies that consumers of these products have water footprints far beyond the places where they live [3].”
BackgroundSelf-citationWater footprint benchmarks for crop production: A first global assessment
Mekonnen, M. M., & Hoekstra, A. Y. (2014) · Ecological Indicators · doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.06.013 · Cited by 446
Self-citationWater Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field
Hoekstra, A. Y. (2017) · Water Resources Management · doi:10.1007/s11269-017-1618-5 · Cited by 410
Self-citationWater Footprint of crop productions: A review
Lovarelli, D., Bacenetti, J., & Fiala, M. (2016) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.022 · Cited by 390
Closing Yield Gaps: How Sustainable Can We Be?
Pradhan, P., Fischer, G., van Velthuizen, H., Reusser, D. E., & Kropp, J. P. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129487 · Cited by 322
Imported water risk: the case of the UK
Hoekstra, A. Y., & Mekonnen, M. M. (2016) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/5/055002 · Cited by 264
Self-citationMapping of water footprint research: A bibliometric analysis during 2006–2015
Zhang, Y., Huang, K., Yu, Y., & Yang, B. (2017) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.02.067 · Cited by 230
The Water Footprint of Modern Consumer Society
Hoekstra, A. Y. (2013) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203126585 · Cited by 187
Self-citationSustainable, efficient, and equitable water use: the three pillars under wise freshwater allocation
Hoekstra, A. Y. (2013) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water · doi:10.1002/wat2.1000 · Cited by 172
Self-citationStructure and controls of the global virtual water trade network
Suweis, S. S., Konar, M., Dalin, C., Hanasaki, N., Rinaldo, A., & Rodriguez-Iturbe, I. (2011) · Geophysical Research Letters · doi:10.1029/2011gl046837 · Cited by 125
Virtual water transfers unlikely to redress inequality in global water use
Seekell, D. A., D’Odorico, P., & Pace, M. L. (2011) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/024017 · Cited by 95
Fang, K., Heijungs, R., Duan, Z., & de Snoo, G. (2015) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su70811285 · Cited by 92
Water Footprint and Virtual Water Trade of Brazil
Silva, V. D., de Oliveira, S. D., Hoekstra, A. Y., Neto, J. D., Campos, J., Braga, C. C., de Araújo, L. E., Aleixo, D. D. O., de Brito, J. I. B., Souza, M. D., et al. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8110517 · Cited by 91
Self-citationVariability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions
Gobin, A., Kersebaum, K. C., Eitzinger, J., Trnka, M., Hlavinka, P., Takáč, J., Kroes, J. G., Ventrella, D., Marta, A. D., Deelstra, J., et al. (2017) · Water · doi:10.3390/w9020093 · Cited by 79
Water Footprint Assessment (WFA) for better water governance and sustainable development
Zhang, G., Hoekstra, A. Y., & Mathews, R. E. (2013) · Water Resources and Industry · doi:10.1016/j.wri.2013.06.004 · Cited by 71
Self-citationWater Footprints and Sustainable Water Allocation
Hoekstra, A. Y., Chapagain, A. K., & Zhang, G. (2015) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su8010020 · Cited by 66
Self-citationZhuo, L., Mekonnen, M. M., & Hoekstra, A. Y. (2016) · Hydrology and earth system sciences · doi:10.5194/hess-20-4547-2016 · Cited by 64
Self-citationEvaluating the Water Footprint of the Mediterranean and American Diets
Blas, A., Garrido, A., & Willaarts, B. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8100448 · Cited by 60
Water Savings of Crop Redistribution in the United States
Davis, K. F., Seveso, A., Rulli, M. C., & D’Odorico, P. (2017) · Water · doi:10.3390/w9020083 · Cited by 53
Assessing Uncertainties of Water Footprints Using an Ensemble of Crop Growth Models on Winter Wheat
Kersebaum, K. C., Kroes, J. G., Gobin, A., Takáč, J., Hlavinka, P., Trnka, M., Ventrella, D., Giglio, L., Ferrise, R., Moriondo, M., et al. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8120571 · Cited by 38
Chen, J., Huang, K., Yu, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8110513 · Cited by 36
Water Footprints and ‘Pozas’: Conversations about Practices and Knowledges of Water Efficiency
Domínguez, C., Verzijl, A., & Zwarteveen, M. (2017) · Water · doi:10.3390/w9010016 · Cited by 33
Owusu‐Sekyere, E., Scheepers, M. E., & Jordaan, H. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8080322 · Cited by 33
le Roux, B., van der Laan, M., Vahrmeijer, T., Annandale, J. G., & Bristow, K. L. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8100473 · Cited by 32
European Water Footprint Scenarios for 2050
Ercin, E., & Hoekstra, A. Y. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8060226 · Cited by 30
Self-citationBrueck, H., & Lammel, J. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8080356 · Cited by 27
Evangelou, E., Tsadilas, C. D., Tserlikakis, N., Tsitouras, A., & Kyritsis, A. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8110515 · Cited by 27
Yin, J. M., Wang, H., & Cai, Y. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8090363 · Cited by 23
Using Water Footprints to Identify Alternatives for Conserving Local Water Resources in California
Marrin, D. L. (2016) · Water · doi:10.3390/w8110497 · Cited by 7
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Environmental footprint family to address local to planetary sustainability and deliver on the SDGs
Vanham, D., Leip, A., Galli, A., Kästner, T., Brückner, M., Uwizeye, A., van Dijk, K., Ercin, E., Dalin, C., Brandão, M., et al. (2019) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133642 · Cited by 415
Self-citationVanham, D., Hoekstra, A. Y., Wada, Y., Bouraoui, F., de Roo, A. P. J., Mekonnen, M. M., van de Bund, W., Batelaan, O., Pavelic, P., Bastiaanssen, W. G. M., et al. (2017) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.056 · Cited by 358
Self-citationCleaner production for achieving the sustainable development goals
Giannetti, B. F., Agostinho, F., Eras, J. J. C., Yang, Z., & Almeida, C. M. V. B. (2020) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122127 · Cited by 281
City footprints and SDGs provide untapped potential for assessing city sustainability
Wiedmann, T., & Allen, C. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-23968-2 · Cited by 163
Industrial water conservation by water footprint and sustainable development goals: a review
Weerasooriya, R. R., Liyanage, L., Rathnappriya, R. H. K., Bandara, W. B. M. A. C., Perera, T. A. N. T., Gunarathna, M. H. J. P., & Jayasinghe, G. Y. (2021) · Environment Development and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s10668-020-01184-0 · Cited by 141
Metadata
- Authors
- Hoekstra, A., Chapagain, A., & Van Oel, P.
- Affiliations
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Water Footprint Network, Bezuidenhoutseweg 2, 2594 AV The Hague, The Netherlands
- Water Resources Management group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Corresponding author
- Hoekstra, Arjen
- Venue
- Water
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2017-06-19
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 438
- ISSN
- 2073-4441 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2625204172
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 4
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Water (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water-Energy-Food Nexus Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Resources and Sustainability
- Keywords
- water footprint assessment, SDG 6, water use efficiency, water scarcity, equitable water distribution, green water, agricultural water use, industrial water use, freshwater management, SDG targets
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