Embodied HANPP: Mapping the spatial disconnect between global biomassproduction and consumption

Author

Karl-Heinz Erb, Fridolin Krausmann, Wolfgang Lucht and Helmut Haberl

Ecological Economics, 2009, vol. 69, issue 2, pages 328-334

Abstract: Biomass trade results in a growing spatial disconnect between environmental impacts due to biomass production and the places where biomass is being consumed. The pressure on ecosystems resulting from the production of traded biomass, however, is highly variable between regions and products. We use the concept of embodied human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) to map the spatial disconnect between net-producing and net-consuming regions. Embodied HANPP comprises total biomass withdrawals and land use induced changes in productivity resulting from the provision of biomass products. International net transfers of embodied HANPP are of global significance, amounting to 1.7Â PgC/year. Sparsely populated regions are mainly net producers, densely populated regions net consumers, independent of development status. Biomassconsumption and trade are expected to surge over the next decades, suggesting a need to sustainably manage supply and demand of products of ecosystems on a global level.

Keywords: Land; use; Net; primary; production; Global; environmental; change; Socioeconomic; biomass; flows; Production; and; consumption; patterns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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