The effect of industrialization and globalization on domestic land-use: A global resource footprint perspective. (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dorninger, Christian; von Wehrden, Henrik; Krausmann, Fridolin; Bruckner, Martin; Feng, Kuishuang; Hubacek, Klaus; Erb, Karl-Heinz; Abson, David J.
• Is Part Of: Global environmental change. Volume 69(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: embodied HANPP -- Environmentally-extended multi-regional input–output analysis -- Land-use -- International trade -- Resource nexus -- Teleconnections; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Periodicals; Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Periodicals; Environment -- Periodicals; Environnement -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Écologie humaine -- Périodiques; Homme -- Influence sur la nature -- Périodiques; Environmental policy; Human ecology; Nature -- Effect of human beings on; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102311
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-3780

Abstract

Highlights: Nations are increasingly disconnected from their domestic biological productivity. Pressure on domestic ecosystems is reduced through external inputs and imports. Environmental burdens are shifted to spatially distant lands and future generations. Superficially efficient land-use systems have the highest resource footprints. Global resource appropriation patterns hamper global sustainable land-use. Abstract: Land-use activities are increasingly globalized and industrialized. While this contributes to a reduction of pressure on domestic ecosystems in some regions, spillover effects from these processes represent potential obstacles for global sustainable land-use. This contribution scrutinizes the complex global resource nexus of national land-use intensity, international trade of biomass goods, and resource footprints in land-use systems. Via a systematic account of the global human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) and input–output modelling, we demonstrate that with growing income countries reduce their reliance on local renewable resources, while simultaneously consuming more biomass goods produced in other countries requiring higher energy and material inputs. The characteristic 'outsourcing' country appropriates 43% of its domestic net primary production, but net-imports a similar amount (64 gigajoules per capita and year) from other countries and requires energy (11 GJ/cap/yr) and material (~400 kg/cap/yr) inputs four to five times higher as the majority of the global population to sustain domestic land-use intensification. This growing societal disconnect from domestic ecological productivity enables a domestic conservation of ecosystems while satisfying growing demand. However, it does not imply a global decoupling of biomass consumption from resource and land requirements.