A Giant Has Fallen
My dear friend Arjen Hoekstra – a giant in the water community — died last night while riding his bike to his home in the Netherlands.
By Brian Richter
More elaborate and comprehensive accolades will be surely be forthcoming, but I’d like my friends and students to know how much this guy meant to me, and to the water world.
Arjen created the concept of ‘water footprints.’ He was a student of Tony Allan’s at King’s College in London when Tony conceived of ‘virtual water’, i.e., the idea that as we transport commodities around the globe they carry with them virtual (embedded) water, meaning the water that was required to produce the commodity in the first place. It didn’t take Arjen long to realize that somebody needed to start quantifying how much water was embedded in those commodities!
You can find a full catalog of products on the website of the Water Footprint Network, the organization Arjen helped create with Ruth Mathews and others. Brilliant graduate students from around the world like Mesfin Mekonnen of Ethiopia flocked to the University of Twente to work with Arjen, their mentor. Arjen became the maestro of an orchestra of scientists working feverishly to compute the water footprints not just of commodity products, but of entire companies, cities, and countries.
Arjen Hoekstra was one of the most cited scientists in his field worldwide. His publications cover a rich variety of topics relating to water, food, energy and trade. His books have been translated in several languages, including The Water Footprint of Modern Consumer Society, The Water Footprint Assessment Manual and Globalization of Water. He taught classes on sustainable development, water management, hydrology, water quality, water footprint assessment, valuing natural resources, ecosystem analysis and policy analysis. He developed a number of educational tools, among which the River Basin Game and the Globalization of Water Role Play.
Arjen created the concept of ‘water footprints.’ He was a student of Tony Allan’s at King’s College in London when Tony conceived of ‘virtual water’, i.e., the idea that as we transport commodities around the globe they carry with them virtual (embedded) water, meaning the water that was required to produce the commodity in the first place. It didn’t take Arjen long to realize that somebody needed to start quantifying how much water was embedded in those commodities!
You can find a full catalog of products on the website of the Water Footprint Network, the organization Arjen helped create with Ruth Mathews and others. Brilliant graduate students from around the world like Mesfin Mekonnen of Ethiopia flocked to the University of Twente to work with Arjen, their mentor. Arjen became the maestro of an orchestra of scientists working feverishly to compute the water footprints not just of commodity products, but of entire companies, cities, and countries.
Arjen Hoekstra was one of the most cited scientists in his field worldwide. His publications cover a rich variety of topics relating to water, food, energy and trade. His books have been translated in several languages, including The Water Footprint of Modern Consumer Society, The Water Footprint Assessment Manual and Globalization of Water. He taught classes on sustainable development, water management, hydrology, water quality, water footprint assessment, valuing natural resources, ecosystem analysis and policy analysis. He developed a number of educational tools, among which the River Basin Game and the Globalization of Water Role Play.
https://t.co/bzsK8aTz8l https://t.co/5ZY2iDE3Mi
— Brian Richter (@SustainWater33) November 20, 2019
The University of Twente created an online condolence register, where you can leave a message and share your thoughts. The collection will be shared with his family later on.
