Chen Chung-Chiang
Nan Hua University, Graduate Institute of Environmental Management, 32 Chung Keng Li, Dalin, Chiayi 622, Taiwan.
Environ Int. 2006 May;32(4):478-86. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2005.11.001. Epub 2005 Dec 27.
Taiwan's EPA has implemented a new guideline called the "Plastic Products Restriction Policy", prohibiting some industries to use plastics as packaging materials for the sake of sustainable use of resources. The significant effect resulting from this policy is the substitution of plastic products with paper products. Is this policy beneficial to achieve future sustainability? I attempt to analyze the resource choice between renewable resources and exhaustible resources for production of final products and services in case of exhaustion of natural resources. In this paper, I develop a framework to examine the dynamic responsiveness of a socio-economical system in facing a continual depletion of natural resources provided by an environmental system. In this framework, the status of an environmental system in terms of carrying capacity is affected by the cumulative impacts caused from human activities, including environmental pollution and resource exploitation. Conversely, it also affects the growth of renewable resources. This framework can serve as a guideline to construct indicators to measure the status of the environmental system and the socio-economical system in order to support a policy planner that formulates an appropriate environmental policy. Based on this framework, I also develop a mathematical model to determine the optimal ratio of resources choice between renewable resources and exhaustible resources.
台湾环保署实施了一项名为“塑料制品限制政策”的新指导方针，为了资源的可持续利用，禁止一些行业使用塑料作为包装材料。这项政策产生的显著影响是用纸制品替代塑料制品。这项政策对实现未来的可持续发展有益吗？我试图分析在自然资源枯竭的情况下，生产最终产品和服务时可再生资源与可耗尽资源之间的资源选择。在本文中，我构建了一个框架，以研究社会经济系统在面对环境系统提供的自然资源持续枯竭时的动态响应。在此框架中，环境系统在承载能力方面的状态受到人类活动造成的累积影响，包括环境污染和资源开发的影响。反之，它也会影响可再生资源的增长。该框架可作为构建指标的指导方针，用于衡量环境系统和社会经济系统的状态，以支持政策制定者制定适当的环境政策。基于此框架，我还开发了一个数学模型，以确定可再生资源与可耗尽资源之间资源选择的最佳比例。
