| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to develop a commodity-by-industry economic-ecological model (CIEEM) based on data collected in a rural village in Nigeria and to assess its utility for measuring the implication of various economic activities on the demand for scarce water resources. Our primary concern is model construction and determination of the direct and total requirements of both economic commodities (inter-industry transactions) and ecological commodities (water, land and vegetation) used in the economy. Also considered is the discharge of ecological commodities (waste water and solid wastes) back to the environment. Results show that, despite sparse sectoral interdependence within the economic system, inputs and outputs of ecological commodities include significant indirect components that can only be captured in an input-output framework. The most intensive users of water based on the direct effects are animal husbandry, construction and irrigated agriculture; based on total effects they are catering/trading, construction and animal husbandry, in descending order. |
