The Virtual Water of Siberia and the Russian Far East for the Asia-Pacific Region: Global Gains vs Regional Sustainability

Though Siberia and the Russian Far East are often considered oil and gas reservoirs, the southern areas of these regions have significant potential for water-intensive production, such as agricultural goods, chemicals, pulp and paper, metals, hydro energy. This potential is strengthening due to the proximity of the most dynamic and water demanding region of the world—the Asian-Pacific region (APR), where the challenge of water and food security is recognized as strategic. Russian political discourse has always been determined by a Eurocentric focus which has seriously constrained intensive cooperation with Asia. This paper investigates the opportunities and challenges to Siberia and the Russian Far East from the perspective of interdependence theory and its water specification—the virtual water concept. The most significant outcomes of the research refer to both theory and strategy. We show that in some cases the virtual water trade may help the water economy on a global scale but worsen the long-term regional water security status and increase the level of water stress in particular areas. The implication for Russia and APR is that Russia’s integration into the APR virtual water market would provide considerable benefits for Russia which include economic gains. More importantly, according to the interdependence theory, as well as a defensive realism, Russia, acting as a guarantor of Asia’s food and water security, would provide long-term positive effects for the whole APR through reduced water stress, and the desecuritization of the food trade and water allocation in the region