Virtual pollination flows as a key element in the typology of transboundary flows: a response to Li et al. (2023)

Li et al. (2023) published a timely and insightful contribution to the study of global sustainability through the development of a typology of transboundary flows within and between coupled human-natural systems. One of the article’s strengths is its detailed characterization of virtual flows, which capture the flow of resources that are not physically contained in traded products but considered virtually embedded due to their use in the production process. However, we note that the virtual flows of biodiversity-based ecosystem services, such as those provided by wild crop pollinators, are not fully developed in their typology. We present evidence supporting the inclusion of virtual biotic pollination flows as a distinct category of transboundary flows. Virtual biotic pollination flow can be quantified as the “proportion of overall crop production resulting from the ecosystem service provided by wild pollinators,” which is traded from producing to consuming regions. Virtual biotic pollination flow represents a distinct and measurable form of transboundary flow which highlight the often-overlooked interdependencies between the consumption of pollinator-dependent crops and biodiversity-rich crop production areas. Integrating virtual biotic pollination flows in the typology of transboundary flows would enhance the comprehensiveness and applicability of metacoupling frameworks and opens possibilities for developing innovative flow-based governance regimes for global sustainability.