Industrial Ecology Programme, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
Faculty of Economics and Law, Shinshu University, Matsumoto, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 23;7:40743. doi: 10.1038/srep40743.
A meaningful environmental impact analysis should go beyond the accounting of pressures from resource use and actually assess how resource demand affects ecosystems. The various currently available footprints of nations report the environmental pressures e.g. water use or pollutant emissions, driven by consumption. However, there have been limited attempts to assess the environmental consequences of these pressures. Ultimately, consequences, not pressures, should guide environmental policymaking. The newly released LC-Impact method demonstrates progress on the path to providing this missing link. Here we present "ecosystem impact footprints" in terms of the consequences for biodiversity and assess the differences in impact footprint results from MRIO-based pressure footprints. The new perspective reveals major changes in the relative contribution of nations to global footprints. Wealthy countries have high pressure footprints in lower-income countries but their impact footprints often have their origin in higher-income countries. This shift in perspective provides a different insight on where to focus policy responses to preserve biodiversity.
有意义的环境影响分析不应局限于资源利用压力的核算，而应实际评估资源需求如何影响生态系统。目前各种国家足迹都报告了由消费驱动的环境压力，例如水的使用或污染物排放。然而，评估这些压力的环境后果的尝试有限。最终，应该是后果而不是压力来指导环境政策制定。新发布的 LC-Impact 方法在提供这一缺失环节方面取得了进展。在这里，我们根据对生物多样性的影响来表示“生态系统影响足迹”，并评估基于 MRIO 的压力足迹的影响足迹结果的差异。新视角揭示了各国对全球足迹的相对贡献的重大变化。富裕国家在低收入国家有很高的压力足迹，但它们的影响足迹往往起源于高收入国家。这种视角的转变为保护生物多样性提供了不同的政策应对重点。
