Is the Water Footprint an Appropriate Tool for Forestry and Forest Products: The Fennoscandian Case

Abstract

The water footprint by the Water Footprint Network (WF) is an ambitious tool for measuring human appropriation and promoting sustainable use of fresh water. Using recent case studies and examples from water-abundant Fennoscandia, we consider whether it is an appropriate tool for evaluating the water use of forestry and forest-based products. We show that aggregating catchment level water consumption over a product life cycle does not consider fresh water as a renewable resource and is inconsistent with the principles of the hydrologic cycle. Currently, the WF assumes that all evapotranspiration (ET) from forests is a human appropriation of water although ET from managed forests in Fennoscandia is indistinguishable from that of unmanaged forests. We suggest that ET should not be included in the water footprint of rain-fed forestry and forest-based products. Tools for sustainable water management should always contextualize water use and water impacts with local water availability and environmental sensitivity.

Keywords

Environmental communication; Forests; Hydrologic cycle; Sustainability; Water footprint; Water use efficiency

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2014, volume: 43, number: 2, pages: 244-256
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Futter, Martyn

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Future Forests

Global goals (SDG)

SDG6 Clean water and sanitation
SDG12 Responsible consumption and production

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-013-0380-z

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/64215