the added value is generated by interaction

PFUR – Faculty of Ecology
22 May 2015, Moscow, Russia
Assessing the environmental performance
and sustainability of natural
and human-dominated ecosystems:
A biophysical and systems perspective
Pier Paolo Franzese
Department of Science and Technology
Parthenope University of Naples, Italy
[email protected]
Parthenope University
of Naples
Dept. of Science and
Technology
Gulf of Naples
Territorial context
The Gulf of Naples
Pompei eruption 79 d.C.
The ecological point of view
SYSTEM:
A set of interacting components
(von Bertalanffy, 1969)
SYSTEMS THINKING:
Added value is generated by interactions
(H.T. Odum, 1983, 1996)
Matter
Energy
Money
Information
The thermodynamics point of view
Open Systems
1) NEGHENTROPIC
2) AUTOPOIETIC
3) COGNITIVE
Dissipative Structures
(Prigogine, 1968)
The economic point of view
Neoclassical Economics
ECONOMIC
SYSTEMS
Ecological Economics
ECONOMIC
SYSTEMS
Matter and energy flows
NATURAL
ECOSYSTEM
ECOSYSTEM
The importance of accounting for matter and energy flows!
Where does wealth come from…?
Resources
Money
Sustainability science by focusing on a
biophysical perspective
Overexploitation and environmental footprint
MAN-MADE
ECOSYSTEMS
LIFE
SUPPORT
SYSTEM
NATURAL
ECOSYSTEMS
Stock and flows:
biophysical constraints to human development
Storages of
natural capital
Flows of
ecosystem services
Societies
growth
and
collapse
Societies
growth
and
collapse
L’impero romano è durato per
più di un millennio ed è crollato
quando l’area di raccolta delle
risorse non è stata più sufficiente
a garantire il supporto ai suoi
accresciuti consumi.
Quando Giulio Cesare arrivò in Gallia
(Francia) e oltre con il suo potente esercito,
rendendo la potenza di Roma sempre
maggiore, era consapevole di questa
prospettiva? E’ molto probabile che il pensiero
non lo abbia nemmeno sfiorato. Eppure, il
declino è arrivato e l’Impero Romano è
scomparso.
Societies growth and collapse
Growth phase – fast growth, high net yields, low efficiency, increasing
loads on environment
Transition phase – declining growth rates, low net yields,
increasing efficiency, decreasing environmental loads
Economic
Production
Decline phase – negative growth rates, no net yields,
maximum efficiency, low environmental loads
low environmental loads
Time
Environmental Assessment
• Understanding systems requires a
multiple scale assessment...
geologic
systems
• ...from local to global.
• We are therefore interested in local
scale assessments, but we also
need to look at systems from the
next larger scale
Replacement time
• All systems are supported by the
lower levels and controlled by the
higher levels
human
society
economic
users
ecosystems
organisms
molecules
Territory of support and influence
Main product
Natural and humandriven inputs
Generic
process/system
Co-products
By-products
Output / Inputs
System
Performance
Renewable / Non-Renewable
Local / imported
Sustainable
Development
Accounting for resources:
alternative notions of “value”
MONEY
VALUE
EXERGY
VALUE
CONSERVATION
VALUE
Accounting for resources:
alternative notions of “value”
Sun
Rain
EMERGY
VALUE
(Odum, 1996)
Direct and indirect resource use
To make a golden ring:
Abiotic MI of gold (*): 540 000 t/tAu
Abiotic MI of diamonds (*) 5 260 000 t/tD
* (electricity MI is not included)
Local an global impacts.
The case of Alluminium.
A final aluminium user: Italy
Bauxite
Bauxite producers
Bauxite
producers
+ OPEC countries
producers + OPEC countries+
Al
smelters
Accounting methods
a) Answers depend on questions
b) Results are method and boundary dependent
The best method/indicator in
absolute terms does not exist!
SUstainability Multimethod Multiscale Approach
Specific
emergies
Global scale
MI
factors
Oil
equivalents
Local scale
Specific
exergies
Impact
equivalency
factors
X
“Black
Box”
X
X
X
X
2nd law
Environmental
Support
Demand
efficiency
Cumulative
Material
Demand
Cumulative
Energy
Demand
UPSTREAM IMPACT
INDICATORS
INPUTS
OUTPUTS
GWP
AP
ODP
Ecotox.
Potential
EP
...
DOWNSTREAM IMPACT
INDICATORS
Cropping systems
Farming systems
Forestry systems
Energy production systems
Bioenergy systems
Urban systems & metabolism
Ecosystem services
assessment
Integrating environmental accounting and
ecosystem services assessment
Integrating environmental accounting and
ecosystem services assessment
Natural inputs
Human-driven inputs
Labor & Services
People supported
GDP produced
Waste and emissions
Concluding remarks
• Because of the complexity of socioecological systems it is hard to
believe that a single method/indicator can be sufficient to provide
comprehensive information regarding their system performance and
sustainability.
• A major effort towards the design of integrated accounting and
assessment frameworks is required to explore in depth the
relationships between social and natural ecosystems.
Take-home message
Be as much as possible inclusive!
Cooperate with your colleagues from other disciplines…
…after all, also in social and academic systems,
the added value is generated by interaction!!!
www.ersd.uniparthenope.it