Life-cycle phosphorus use efficiency of the farming system in Anhui Province,Central China

The rapid increase of phosphorus (P) use in farming has raised concerns regarding its conservation and environmental impact. Increasing the P use efficiency (PUE) is an approach to mitigating these adverse impacts. In this study, we applied substance flow analysis (SFA) to establish a life-cycle P use efficiency model to determine the life-cycle PUE of the farming system used in Anhui Province in 2011, which is typical of the agriculture practiced in central China. Based on this model, the P flows and PUEs of five subsystems were identified and quantified: crop farming, crop processing, livestock breeding, rural living, and urban living. The three largest P flows were found in the crop farming and livestock breeding subsystems; it can therefore be concluded that these subsystems have substantial impacts on the entire farming system. In contrast, the PUEs of crop farming, rural consumption, and livestock breeding subsystems presented the three lowest PUEs (58.79%, 71.75%, and 76.65%, respectively). These results were also consistent with the finding that the greatest P losses occurred in crop farming and livestock breeding. Consequently, the study proposes that great potential exists for increasing PUEs in the farming system of Anhui, and several of the most promising measures could be combined for improving PUEs. Finally, the study assesses data quality and presents a sensitivity analysis for use in interpreting the results. The study also shows that improving PUE and decreasing P losses in farming systems through improved nutrient management must be considered an important issue, and this study represents valuable experience in resource conservation and agricultural development in China.     

Sustainability, substance flow management and time. Part I Temporal analysis of substance flows

Flows of chemical substances need to be managed in a sustainable way. Sustainable development as a whole and the sustainable management of substance flows in particular are both time issues. These include the importance of the dynamics of substance flows and the way these interconnect with the use of resources, the avoidance of environmental pollution, and their effects on health and food production. Another prerequisite for the proper management of substance flows is justice within and between generations. This requires a systematic approach and a systematic analysis of the issues as well as of the actions to be taken. One tool for such a systematic approach is temporal analysis. It brings the temporal aspects of the substances themselves and of their intended use, as well as factors affecting the stakeholders, such as decision makers, producers and consumers, into focus. In the past, timing factors were rarely taken into account. Knowledge of the temporal dynamics of substance flows and their resultant outcomes, as well as of their interaction with ecological, economic and social systems, is a basic requirement for successful substance flow management. The need to include temporal aspects into substance flow management and how to do so is outlined here. Included are not only politicians but also practitioners and scientists who must explicitly take into account adequate time scales, points in time, breaks and other forms of time in planning and acting.     

ISO 14 001 at the farm level: analysis of five methods for evaluating the environmental impact of agricultural practices

Faced with society's increasing expectations, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) review considers environmental management to be an ever more critical criterion in the allocation of farm subsidies. With the goal of evaluating the environmental friendliness of farm practices, France's agricultural research and extension services have built a range of agricultural/environmental diagnostic tools over recent years. The objective of the present paper is to compare the five tools most frequently used in France: IDEA, DIAGE, DIALECTE, DIALOGUE and INDIGO. All the tools have the same purpose: evaluation of the impact of farm practices on the environment via indicators and monitoring of farm management practices. When tested on a sample of large-scale farms in Picardie, the five tools sometimes produced completely different results: for a given farm, the most supposedly significant environmental impacts depend on the tool used. These results lead to differing environmental management plans and raise the question of the methods' pertinence. An analysis grid of diagnostic tools aimed at specifying their field of validity, limits and relevance was drawn up. The resulting comparative analysis enables to define each tool's domain of validity and allows to suggest lines of thought for developing more relevant tools for (i) evaluating a farm's environmental performance and (ii) helping farmers to develop a plan for improving practices within the framework of an environmental management system.     

Country-scale phosphorus balancing as a base for resources conservation

In order to effectively conserve the non-renewable resource phosphorus (P), flows and stocks of P must be known at national, regional and global scales. P is a key non-renewable resource because its use as fertilizer cannot be substituted posing a constraint on the global food production in the long-term. This paper presents a methodology to establish country-wide P balances that emphasises resource use. We develop a material flow analysis (MFA) model that comprises all relevant flows and stocks of P in five subsystems, seven processes and 36 material flows. For quantification, statistical data from economic and agricultural sources as well as available information about P partitioning in natural and anthropogenic processes are used. Special attention is paid to data gaps and uncertainties. The model was tested in two case studies on P management in Turkey and Austria. MFA appears to be a tool well suited for establishing country-wide P balances, provided that national statistics are well-structured and accessible. If a common approach is used for modelling P-flows and stocks, regional and national balances can be compared and linked towards larger scale P balances for an improved management of the resource.     

Metal capital sustaining a North American city: Iron and copper in New Haven, CT

A detailed inventory shows that an average resident of the City of New Haven depends on a per capita capital stock of 9200 kg/c of iron and 144 kg/c of copper in the city infrastructure, buildings, transportation systems, and equipment. Of the iron stock 28% is in items such as rail cars and ships in ocean trade not permanently within the city, and 22% is devoted to receiving and delivering oil fuel to the city and its surrounding communities. Copper is principally used in the distribution of electric power and in water piping within buildings. The city's 9200 kg/c of iron stock-in-use is less than the 13,000 kg/c national average due to New Haven's lack of heavy industry and relatively small number of large buildings. The 144 kg/c of copper stock-in-use is only 58% of the overall value for the United States, but is comparable to that in cities such as Stockholm, Sweden. Attainment of a level of iron and copper services with contemporary technology in less developed countries to the level enjoyed in New Haven would require consumption of the presently identified world copper resources.     

Material flow analysis of paper in Korea. Part I. Data calculation model from the flow relationships between paper products

The flows of paper are analyzed throughout the papermaking processes, with the year 2007 and Korea defined as the system boundaries. In practice, the statistical data on the production, import and export of paper or pulp can be collected with relative ease from the government and industrial associations. However, the input data regarding the volumes of pulp and wastepaper used in different paper products, such as newsprint, printing papers, sanitary and household papers, specialty papers, and corrugating board base, are difficult to obtain because such information is generally kept confidential in the course of corporate operations.The production processes of paper products in Korea are modeled using information on raw materials, their compositions and production yields of products in order to identify and quantify the amounts of pulp and wastepaper used in each paper product. The material flows of paper are then analyzed based on the calculation model derived from the correlation of input and output flows between the individual processes throughout the entire paper lifecycle. Accuracy analysis using both mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percent error (MAPE) is conducted to verify the amounts of pulp and wastepaper calculated from the proposed model against the volumes of domestically consumed pulp and wastepaper provided in the national statistics. Although the calculated values for the past (i.e., the 1980s and 1990s) differ to some degree from the statistical values, the data for the 2000s have a relatively higher level of accuracy, with the MAPE of the total pulp and recycling volume at 5.39% and 5.30%, respectively, thus validating the adequacy of the proposed modeling method. The proposed calculation model can be effectively used in the material flow analysis (MFA) of paper to reduce the burden of data collection and obtain relatively accurate results.     

Cement and concrete flow analysis in a rapidly expanding economy: Ireland as a case study

A national material flow model for concrete, the most popular construction material in Ireland, was developed based on the framework of material flow analysis. Using this model the Irish concrete cycle for the year 2007 was constructed by analysing the material life cycle of concrete which consists of the three phases of: production (including extraction of raw materials and manufacture of cement), usage (ready-mix and other products) and waste management (disposal or recovery). In this year, approximately 35 million metric tonnes of raw materials were consumed to produce 5 million metric tonnes of cement and 33 million metric tonnes of concrete. Concrete production was approximately 8 metric tonnes per capita. By comparison, the concrete waste produced in that year was minimal at only 0.3 million metric tonnes. Irish building stock is young and there was little demolition of structures in the year of study. However this build up of construction stock will have implications for the future waste flows when the majority of stock built in the last decade (43% of residential stock was constructed in the last 15 years) reaches its end of life.     

Experimental evidence for a dual pathway model analysis of coping with the climate crisis

Two experiments examined the psychological power of fear and group efficacy beliefs to increase environmental action intentions against the climate crisis. Extending a dual pathway model of coping with collective disadvantage, results showed evidence for emotion-focused approach coping: Environmental action intentions were increased by individuals' manipulated fear of the negative future consequences of the climate crisis (Experiments 1–2). Additionally, results showed evidence for problem-focused approach coping: Individuals' measured (Experiment 1) and manipulated group efficacy beliefs (Experiment 2) increased environmental action intentions. The results thus suggest that the dual pathway model can be successfully applied to a psychological analysis of emotion- and problem-focused approach coping with the climate crisis. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results.     

A method for regional-scale material flow and decoupling analysis: A demonstration case study of Aichi prefecture, Japan

We have developed a method to analyse the annual material flow in a prefecture and have calculated environmental indicators for a prefecture. Material flow analysis (MFA) is important to clarify the structure of a regional society and obtain environmental indicators for a circular society. However, MFA has not advanced in local governments because of few local statistics. We have developed a method to analyse the annual material flow in Aichi prefecture from 1980 to 2000 using an input–output (I–O) table and statistics of Aichi. We have verified the accuracy of this method by comparing its results for 2000 which calculated on the basis of official I–O table for 1995 with the I–O table data for 2000; the correlation coefficient obtained in this case is greater than 0.95. Moreover, by performing MFA, we have estimated the resource consumption and decoupling indicator of each industry in Aichi prefecture from 1980 to 2000. We could obtain more detailed and accurate environmental indicators by using our method. From these results, we could estimate the progress of Aichi prefecture towards a circular society.     

Use of decision analysis interviews to support the sustainable use of the forests in Finnish Upper Lapland

Controversy between alternative uses of forests in Finnish Upper Lapland has been going on for decades, and in recent years it has been escalated to a serious conflict. The core of the conflict is the adverse impacts of forestry on old forests which are important grazing areas for reindeer and which are regarded as intact nature and wilderness areas. This paper describes the experiences of applying multi-criteria decision analysis interview approach on this conflict. The approach provides tools for structuring the problem and preferences of the stakeholders as well as for analyzing the effects of different alternatives in a common framework. We focus on the practical experiences gained from the application of this approach in this context. Multi-criteria decision analysis was found to be a useful approach to evaluate the economic, ecological and cultural aspects of this intense conflict. The obtained experiences also support the view that the approach works best when tightly integrated into the planning process.