The Common Good and Ecological Integrity: human rights and the support of life

0470038 - ÚVGZ 2017 RIV US eng M - Monography Chapter
Hák, T. - Nováková, P. - Cudlín, Pavel
The Czech water footprint in the European context.
The Common Good and Ecological Integrity: human rights and the support of life. New York: Routledge, 2016 - (Westra, L.; Gray, J.; D'Aloia, A.), s. 36-48. ISBN 978-1-138-66822-5
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LO1415; GA MŠMT(CZ) EE2.3.20.0248
Institutional support: RVO:67179843
Keywords : water footprint * water resources * water pollution * climate change * Czech Republic
Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour

Water is a precondition for human, animal and plant life as well as an indispensable resource for the economy. There are already many signs that humanity is globally consuming more resources than the planet is able to produce and regenerate. In spite of the absolute dependence of the Czech Republic’s water resources on atmospheric rainfall, water is so far not a critical resource. In Europe, the key water policies aiming at ensuring good quality water of sufficient quantity are Directive for “European Union Water Framework Directive” and the “Blueprint to safeguard Europe's water resources”. Water footprint (WF) is an indicator of freshwater use that looks not only at direct water use of a consumer or producer, but also at the indirect water use (i.e. the freshwater consumption and pollution ‘behind’ products being consumed or produced); it is equal to the sum of the water footprints of all products consumed by the consumer or of all (non-water) inputs used by the producer. The WF provides an innovative tool useful for formulating national water plans. It allows governments to consider the global dimension of water demand patterns. The Czech Ministry of Agriculture has recently commissioned a three year research project aimed at adapting the WF methodology according to the new ISO norm, development of database of local and national data needed for the WF calculations and demonstration of some pilot WF calculations in various economic sectors.

Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0267782