Impacts of Western lifestyles in a telecoupled world:Mapping and specifying current and future demand for ecosystem services

Human use of natural resources is exceeding the planet's ecological ceilings. To reverse this trend, sustainable production and consumption was placed on the global governance agenda at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, a large number of empirical studies have been carried out to characterise the environmental impact of consumption. It has become clear that humanity's pressure on ecosystems is mainly related to the use of natural resources for food, shelter and mobility, and that the wealthiest people contribute disproportionately to the overall pressure because of the consumption culture associated with affluence. It has also been shown that most environmental impacts are not visible to final consumers because the goods and services they use are often produced miles away. This understanding has largely been supported by conceptual and methodological developments around the concepts of lifestyle, ecosystem services and telecoupling. However, these concepts have only been marginally combined so far, leaving open questions about the role of lifestyle in explaining the use of ecosystem services and ecological impacts. This dissertation brings together ideas and methods from research around these concepts to propose indicators and tools to characterise the role of lifestyle as a determinant of the extent and geography of ecosystem services demand and impacts. Different aspects of lifestyle - diet, holiday, mobility - are empirically addressed, with a focus on Western countries where living standards are relatively high and affluent consumption is the norm. Chapter 2 questions the potential ecological outcomes of a large-scale shift from the current standard diet in the United States of America (USA) to more plant-based alternatives. Chapter 3 examines tourist preferences for different holiday styles as a determinant of carbon emissions from leisure travel within the European Union (EU). Chapter 4 draws a quantitative link between current mobility patterns in the European Union and the expansion of rubber plantations in the tropics, which is leading to deforestation. In addition, Chapter 5 critically looks at the trade model used in chapters 2 and 4 to trace the origin of commodities available for use in the USA and the EU and proposes a way forward. Finally, Chapter 6 synthesises the methodological and empirical findings of Chapters 2 to 5 and operationalises these findings into recommendations for businesses and governments on how to support the transition to sustainable consumption in Western societies. Overall, this thesis shows that our understanding of lifestyle as a determinant of ecological impacts can be improved by reusing available large-scale survey results, contextualising individual agency and substantiating indicators of demand for ecosystem services with qualitative information. Taken together, the chapters demonstrate that prevailing preferences in Western societies explain the extent and spatial patterns of demand for ecosystem services and associated impacts. They also highlight the dependence of Western lifestyles on far-flung ecosystems and globalisation processes such as international trade and leisure travel. This body of research therefore re-emphasises the role of demand-side measures in reducing the overall impact of Western societies and the importance of addressing potential impacts beyond borders. Ultimately, this perspective on the role of lifestyle as a driver of sustainability issues in a telecoupled world argues for cooperation between different actors - individual consumers, businesses and governments - to carry out the transition to sustainable consumption patterns

Top Marine Beach Litter Items in Europe

Reducing litter in the coastal and marine environment is a major and prior challenge to preserve biota, ecosystems, as well as goods and services that humans derive from seas and oceans. The identification of the most abundant beach litter items, the so-called Top Marine Litter Items, is a matter of concern for the MSFD, the upcoming EU Plastics Strategy and in general for the prioritisation of measures against marine litter. Specific measures are needed to prevent further inputs and reduce the abundance of litter items. Based on a compiled beach litter data set from 2016, most abundant items on EU beaches have been identified. The quantification of items through beach litter monitoring enables a ranking of items based on their numerical abundance. While a few studies from Regional Sea Conventions (RSCs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and research projects have ranked items by their occurrence on beaches at different spatial scales, there was no EU wide analysis available. The report has been developed by JRC within the TG Marine Litter. It lists an updated compilation of available studies and publications of top item lists. Different calculation methods, leading to different results, have been described and applied on a set of European beach litter data that had been collected within the TG Marine Litter. Data is based on 1-year sampling (2016) and included the outcome from monitoring programs, clean-up campaigns and research projects. Results, also with focus on single use products, have been provided in support to the development of the EU Plastics Strategy. The data analysis involved spatial-temporal data grouping at European, regional and national level, including also seasonal variability of beach litter. A total of 355671 marine litter items have been recorded during 679 surveys on 276 European beaches. Furthermore the report gives a brief outlook on the potential consideration of risk-related item properties, leading to a prioritization based on potential harm. The report should provide information in order to develop and implement most efficient measures against marine litter.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Toward spatial fit in the governance of global commodity flows

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MGlobal commodity flows between distally connected social-ecological systems pose important challenges to sustainability governance. These challenges are partly due to difficulties in designing and implementing governance institutions that fit or match the scale of the environmental and social problems generated in such telecoupled systems. We focus on the spatial dimension of governance fit in relation to global commodity flows and telecoupled systems. Specifically, we draw on examples from land use and global agricultural commodity governance to examine two overarching types of governance mismatches: boundary mismatches and resolution mismatches. We argue that one way to address mismatches is through governance rescaling and illustrate this approach with reference to examples of three broad types of governance approaches: trade agreements, due diligence laws, and landscape approaches to supply chain governance. No single governance approach is likely to address all mismatches, highlighting the need to align multiple governance approaches to govern telecoupled systems effectively

Land footprint and ecological impacts of six American diets

This folder contains eight datasets. See scientific paper for more details on the methodology. Four datasets "land footprint_total/feed/food/grass.csv" indicate the spatial distribution (country level) of the land footprint (in m2 per year) for six diets of consumers in the United States of America: (aad (standard diet), non-vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, eat (diet recommended by the Lancet), lacto-ovo vegetarian, vegan), and three average diets (meat-rich (aad + non-vegetarian), low-meat (semi-vegetarian + eat), no-meat (lacto-ovo vegetarian + vegan)). _food = for food only (excluding animal products); _feed = for animal feed (corn, sorghum, barley, oat, soybean, wheat) embedded in the consumption of animal products (poultry, beef, pork, milk, eggs); _grass = grass embedded in the consumption of milk and beef. Four datasets indicate the spatial distribution of ecological impacts associated to the six diets of consumers in the United States of America. _nitrogen indicates the potential for nitrogen fixation (in m2 per year). Three indicators per diet: nitro = all legume crops considered; no.soya = all legume crops excluding soya; soya = only soya considered. _pollination indicates the reliance on pollination (in m2 per year). Two indicators per diet: polli = area needing pollinator visit; extra: extra land footprint in absence of pollinator visit (due to lower crop yield when pollination does not occur). _wf indicates the volumetric water footprint (in m3 per year). Two indicators per diet: bluewf = water extracted from freshwater ecosystems; greywf = water polluted in freshwater ecosystems. wsi_wf indicates the stress-weighed water footprint -i.e. the pressure put on freshwater ecosystems - obtained by multiplying the volumetric water footprint by water-stress characterization factors at the national level (from Ridoutt and Pfister, 2010). FAO codes, ISO3 or ISO2 of the countries of origin of the crops can be used to visualise the data in GIS

Natural rubber use for mobility in the European Union

This folder contains four datasets. Three datasets (land footprint_min/mean/max.csv) indicates the area used for rubber plantations in different rubber producing countries to support mobility (people and goods) in the different EU countries and in the EU28 as a whole. Min, mean, and max refer to the values used in calculations for number of wheels, rubber content in tyres and tyre lifespan. FAO codes or ISO3 code for countries of origin of natural rubber can be used to visualise the data in GIS. One dataset (per capita NR use car.csv) indicates the natural rubber use through car use - per capita - in EU28 countries (based on min, mean or max values for number of wheels, rubber content in tyres and tyre lifespan). ISO2 code for EU countries can be used to visualise the data in GIS. All datasets reflect the situation for year 2017

Impacts of Western lifestyles in a telecoupled world: Mapping and specifying current and future demand for ecosystem services

Human use of natural resources is exceeding the planet's ecological ceilings. To reverse this trend, sustainable production and consumption was placed on the global governance agenda at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, a large number of empirical studies have been carried out to characterise the environmental impact of consumption. It has become clear that humanity's pressure on ecosystems is mainly related to the use of natural resources for food, shelter and mobility, and that the wealthiest people contribute disproportionately to the overall pressure because of the consumption culture associated with affluence. It has also been shown that most environmental impacts are not visible to final consumers because the goods and services they use are often produced miles away. This understanding has largely been supported by conceptual and methodological developments around the concepts of lifestyle, ecosystem services and telecoupling. However, these concepts have only been marginally combined so far, leaving open questions about the role of lifestyle in explaining the use of ecosystem services and ecological impacts. This dissertation brings together ideas and methods from research around these concepts to propose indicators and tools to characterise the role of lifestyle as a determinant of the extent and geography of ecosystem services demand and impacts. Different aspects of lifestyle - diet, holiday, mobility - are empirically addressed, with a focus on Western countries where living standards are relatively high and affluent consumption is the norm. Chapter 2 questions the potential ecological outcomes of a large-scale shift from the current standard diet in the United States of America (USA) to more plant-based alternatives. Chapter 3 examines tourist preferences for different holiday styles as a determinant of carbon emissions from leisure travel within the European Union (EU). Chapter 4 draws a quantitative link between current mobility patterns in the European Union and the expansion of rubber plantations in the tropics, which is leading to deforestation. In addition, Chapter 5 critically looks at the trade model used in chapters 2 and 4 to trace the origin of commodities available for use in the USA and the EU and proposes a way forward. Finally, Chapter 6 synthesises the methodological and empirical findings of Chapters 2 to 5 and operationalises these findings into recommendations for businesses and governments on how to support the transition to sustainable consumption in Western societies. Overall, this thesis shows that our understanding of lifestyle as a determinant of ecological impacts can be improved by reusing available large-scale survey results, contextualising individual agency and substantiating indicators of demand for ecosystem services with qualitative information. Taken together, the chapters demonstrate that prevailing preferences in Western societies explain the extent and spatial patterns of demand for ecosystem services and associated impacts. They also highlight the dependence of Western lifestyles on far-flung ecosystems and globalisation processes such as international trade and leisure travel. This body of research therefore re-emphasises the role of demand-side measures in reducing the overall impact of Western societies and the importance of addressing potential impacts beyond borders. Ultimately, this perspective on the role of lifestyle as a driver of sustainability issues in a telecoupled world argues for cooperation between different actors - individual consumers, businesses and governments - to carry out the transition to sustainable consumption patterns

Identification de la fraction active des bactéries du microbiote améliorant la résistance à la colonisation intestinale contre les entérocoques résistants à la vancomycine

Communication orale (20 minutes)International audienc

The role of holiday styles in shaping the carbon footprint of leisure travel within the European Union

Leisure travel within the European Union (EU) contributes significantly to the carbon footprint of global tourism. Distance travelled is a main factor in this impact, but some of its determinants remain unexplored. We examined the role of tourists' holiday preferences in shaping the carbon footprint of leisure travel within the EU by calculating demand and impact indicators associated with eight holiday styles. We find a substantial and equivalent carbon footprint for visiting relatives, nature tourism and sea, sun and sand tourism, but a higher carbon intensity of travel per trip for the latter. This is due to widespread demand for sea, sun, and sand tourism despite the concentration of destinations in Southern Europe. Furthermore, international travel within the EU is on average three times more carbon intensive than domestic travel. Our insights suggest that tourists’ holiday preferences can be leveraged for the sustainable development of leisure travel within the EU