Water footprint concept and methodology for warranting sustainability in human-induced water use and governance

摘要

Abstract Water footprint is a popular concept in research and water resource management discourse, which can be used to improve the management and sustainability of global water resources. It offers a huge potential towards water resource and impact decoupling at various levels/scales. In this paper, we review scientific literature on the water footprint methodology with the aim of improving the understanding of the concept to various stakeholders, its applications, and significance to water use and management. We highlight the applications of the methodology and their significance. In addition, we outline the phases in water footprint assessment, the approaches used in water footprint accounting, the limitations of the methodology, usefulness, and some recent successful applications. We conclude that the water footprint methodology is a powerful policy tool that can be used worldwide to manage scarce freshwater resources and in promoting sustainability and governance in human-induced water use. More so, the concept has an important role to play in disengaging development with excessive water resource use and adverse environmental impact. Therefore, it is imperative to understand and apply the water footprint concept particularly by various stakeholders in the developing world to mitigate excessive physical and economic water resources’ scarcity.