The pattern of virtual water transfer in China: From the perspective of the virtual water hypothesis

Limited and uneven distributed water resources have become one of the main obstacles to China's sustainable development, “virtual hypothesis” (VWH) is expected help mitigate stress. This study discusses virtual transfer pattern stress in China from VWH perspective. Economic sectors are divided into land-dependent non-land-dependent according their dependence on specific local land types. Furthermore, withdrawal utilization corresponding these (LDW) (NLDW). Results show that LDW flows economically poor relatively developed regions, while NLDW opposite direction. dominates Chinese (78.2%) flow (74.5%). dominated by ameliorates national (the population under unsustainable declined 0.21 billion) but aggravates imbalance between North South. The alleviates this slightly. Suitable conditions play a decisive role withdrawal, which then cannot be replenished water. However, flexible, should focus. results point out possibility water-rich regions as exporters key alleviating North–South resource with theory. Improvement productivity efficiency can helpful alleviate These findings may provide new insight