Water Scarcity And Water Trade: An Analysis Of The Determinants Of Virtual Water Flows To The Gcc Countries

With projected populations of about 633 million in the Arab region in 2050, water resources per capita are expected to drop to a level of about 470 cubic meters in region, compared with a world average of about 4,700 m3 for the same year (Sadik, 2013). Especially, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face the most severe water shortages in the region which represents a serious threat to the region's human security (Al-Zubari, 2008; Dziuban, 2011). With such diminishing per capita water resources, GCC countries rely on imports to meet the increasing food demand for the growing population, while they import more than 80 percent of their total food consumption (FAO, 2013). A look at the existing literature shows that virtual water, termed by (Allan, 1997), has always been suggested as a means of overcoming water shortage in water scared countries (Hoekstra and Hung 2002; El-Sadek 2010; Aldaya et al, 2010; Dalin et al. 2012). Few studies however have so far examined the determinants of virtual water f...