Main Outlines and Goals of JustWATER

Italy is among the first 10 countreis of the world to export crops irrigated from depleted groundwater sources. JustWATER will uncover exactly where in Italy export-led irrigation agriculture is exploiting the most vulnerable groundwaters and water-scare areas, identifying bad virtual water GIS hotspots.
JustWATER is a research aimed at providing Italian water experts and water decision-makers with a set of tools for informed actions in the realm of the hydro politics of the country. JustWATER connects irrigation patterns to crop-exports trends in Italy, producing GIS maps, graphic charts and socio-economic data to enhance water-related decision-making through virtual water analysis. The novelty of this research is the connection among sub-national levels of analysis (regional and district level) to global virtual water flows, exploring their social and environmental effects and paying attention to gender issues. Exploring the connection between irrigation trends and patterns of agricultural exports will lead to better understanding national water politics in Italy and can be replicated in other drought-prone EU countries.


Parts of the main goals of the Marie Curie Individual Fellowship are also focussed on the researcher's training: Dr. Greco will get training and knowledge transfer, enhancing her employability and career prospects. Furthermore, the project will enhance the visibility of University of Bergamo in the forefront institutions that are active in both virtual water issues and water & gender enquiry, thanks to the gender-transformative tools enacted by the project.

Theoretical goals: JustWATER will draw upon insights from Human Geography, Political Economy and Political Ecology. Introducing the sub-national scale of analysis constitutes a substantial theoretical innovation in the virtual water literature, which has so far concentrated on the global and national scale.

Practical goals: JustWATER will provide policy-oriented tools and end-users data to serve citizen science and open science practices, allowing not only interoperability of research outputs, but also replicability in other countries.

Overall goals: to construct a theoretical and analytical framework, create a set of information and policy tools and to involve the Italian water community of experts