Abstract: Freshwater, a renewable but finite natural resource, is vital for all aspects of economic and social activities as well as ecosystems. It is also an essential parameter in human life due to its ability to produce welfare. Water resources, which are essential for all forms of life, are gradually decreasing and the main causes of this shortage are mostly human interference in the water cycle, influencing both water availability and water quality, along with the effects of climatic changes. The human-induced build-up of pressures on water resources are associated with larger social and economic processes, including urban growth, industrial expansion, and changing consumption patterns, all of which place ever-increasing demands on water resources. However, the presence of adequate and good quality water is a key element of freshwater ecosystems, human health, and energy and food security. These resources are the complementary goods for all goods and services due to the utilizing of underground and surface waters for a number of industrial, agricultural and domestic purposes. Water stress, which refers to the pressure on the quantity and quality of renewable water resources, is recognized as one of the most urgent environmental challenges facing humanity.

This paper empirically examines the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis using a country’s water stress as an indicator of the pressure on renewable water resources. The sample consists of 9 European countries by covering the period 1995–2013. The paper adopts a panel threshold regression model which can predict the threshold level endogenously to analyze whether income per person has an impact on water stress. The empirical findings strongly demonstrate the existence of a threshold beyond which environmental pressures of GDP (real) per capita growth on renewable water resources tend to increase. The growth below the threshold levels has no statistically significant effect on water stress, while the growth rate above the threshold increases stress on water resources. The available empirical findings obtained, albeit limited, tend not to support the EKC hypothesis, which postulates an inverted-U-shaped relationship.

Biography: Dr. Yıldırım is working as associate professor at Department of Economics, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Turkey. He got his bachelor, master’s degrees and Ph.D. degree in Economics from Kocaeli University. While working as a doctoral student, he worked at the University of Almeria-Spain for a while.

He has published more than fifty articles in Web of Science and other scientific indexed peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Environmental Management, Resources Policy, Energy & Environment, Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, Economic Systems, Emerging Markets, Finance and Trade, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy among others. He has numerous book editors and chapters. He is a reviewer in many journals with high impact factors in the fields of environment and economy. He is also the managing editor of the Journal of Emerging Economies and Policy. He is on the editorial boards of several scientific indexed peer-reviewed journals. His current research interests are current and emerging issues such as environment & sustainable development, energy and macroeconomics issues. He worked as an executive and a researcher in many projects for the employment of disadvantaged groups for a sustainable economy (one of its projects is award-winning).