Most of the water humanity currently consumes is invisible, it is embedded within goods and services purchased by final consumers from the global economic market. Cities of the Global South (GS) – especially African and Asian cities are facing twofold water security problems. First, the increased risk of water availability (both quantity and quality), which is exacerbated by climate change. Second, the ever-increasing water demand due to their economic and population growth. Therefore, to help cities of the GS to efficiently manage their water resources, it is crucial to explore what products are being imported from the global economic market and assess their embodied water intensities. Herein, the water footprints (blue and grey) of 181 cities from the GS are computed using Extended Environmental Input-Output Analysis (EE-IOA). Results point out that water imports through virtual water are significant and growing even across the GS with different magnitudes because of the economic attributes of cities (expenditures patterns) and their geography (spatial location). The average blue virtual water is estimated to be 253 l per capita/yr and 285 l per capita/yr for virtual grey water. When decomposing the water footprint we found that the major responsible sectors are “Food” accounting for 37% of the total footprint, followed by “Transport” with 24%, and “Energy” with 22%. To put the climate impacts in perspective, cities of the GS must act in a proactive approach and use the water-trade nexus as a supplementary approach to shape and implement water security strategies.

人类目前消耗的大部分水是无形的，它包含在最终消费者从全球经济市场购买的商品和服务中。南半球 (GS) 的城市——尤其是非洲和亚洲的城市正面临双重水安全问题。首先，水资源可用性（数量和质量）的风险增加，气候变化加剧了这种风险。其次，由于经济和人口增长，对水的需求不断增加。因此，为了帮助 GS 的城市有效管理其水资源，探索从全球经济市场进口哪些产品并评估其隐含水强度至关重要。在此，使用扩展环境投入产出分析 (EE-IOA) 计算了 GS 中 181 个城市的水足迹（蓝色和灰色）。结果指出，由于城市的经济属性（支出模式）及其地理位置（空间位置），通过虚拟水进口的水量很大，甚至在整个 GS 中都以不同的幅度增长。平均蓝色虚拟水估计为人均 253 升/年，虚拟灰水为 285 升/人/年。在分解水足迹时，我们发现主要责任部门是“食品”，占总足迹的 37%，其次是“交通”，占 24%，“能源”占 22%。为了正确看待气候影响，GS 的城市必须采取积极主动的方式，并将水贸易关系作为制定和实施水安全战略的补充方法。