Water scarcity and extreme weather events – both now and under climate change – outside Japan’s borders are expected to pose an increasing risk to Japan’s agri-food importers and to the wider consumer market. In Japan, many traditional culinary ingredients such as rice, edamame, miso and tofu (soybean products) – as well as increasingly popular meat and dairy products – are produced using crops grown in countries that are highly vulnerable to water scarcity and drought. This could affect the country’s supply of key commodities which, in turn, could disrupt its economic stability and food security.

Within the IMPREX project, the global water demand of the Japanese economy was mapped, and an assessment was carried out how water scarcity and drought could disrupt supplies of key food crops that it imports. This reveals potential vulnerabilities of Japan’s food security and economic stability and identifies which food products may become more expensive in the country in the near and longer-term future.

For more information, download the press release or contact Ertug Ercin.