Can International Freshwater Trade Contribute to the SDG 6

Abstract

Freshwater is fundamental for all aspects of human well-being and sustainable development. The supply of freshwater resource largely depends on the natural water cycle, leading to extremely unequal distribution over the world. This uneven distribution and increasing freshwater demand results in spatial and temporal physical freshwater shortage. By discussing the limitations of desalination techniques and the shortcomings of existing pathways for freshwater transfer including water transfer projects, bottled water market, and virtual water trade, we suggest that international freshwater trade as an additional pathway is necessary. The analysis of the cost structure of freshwater production and transportation and the hypothetical examples between potential exporting and importing countries show the feasibility of international freshwater trade. The establishment of a global freshwater market is confronted with six challenges, namely, natural sustainability, ecological safety, opinions of stakeholders, market access mechanism, pricing mechanism, and infrastructure system. We conclude that a global freshwater market is expected to make contributions to achieving SDG 6 by mitigating spatial and temporal freshwater scarcity and by resolving transboundary freshwater conflicts and managing local freshwater consumptions.