The water footprint of Austria: Why a healthy diet will be more sustainable

Within this paper, the water footprint of consumption (WFcons) of Austria for different diets is analysed: the current diet (period 1996-2005, REF), a healthy diet (DGE) and a vegetarian (VEG) diet. The consumption of agricultural products is responsible for a very large fraction of the WFcons. Especially the consumption of livestock products (meat, dairy products and eggs) generally increases the WFcons substantially. The current total Austrian WFcons amounts to 4377 l/cap/d, of which 83% relates to the consumption of agricultural products. However, both the daily consumption and intake of kcal and the proportion of animal proteins are considerably higher than recommended. It is shown that both the DGE and VEG diets reduce the WFcons considerably, i.e. by a reduction amount of 879 l/cap/d (20% of the total WFcons) respectively 1318 l/cap/d (30% of the total WFcons). The VEG diet is characterised by the lowest WFcons.

VANHAM Davy; 

2013-01-21

UNESCO-IHE

JRC70164