Global Biodiversity Loss by Freshwater Consumption and Eutrophication from Swiss Food Consumption
- 14 June 2016
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Environmental Science & Technology
- Vol. 50 (13), 7019-7028
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b00740
Abstract
We investigated water-related resource use, emissions and ecosystem impacts of food consumed in Switzerland. To do so, we coupled LCA methodologies on freshwater consumption, freshwater eutrophication and the consequent local and global biodiversity impacts with Swiss customs data and multiregional input-output analysis. Most of the resource use, emissions and impacts occur outside the national boundaries which illustrates the extent of environmental outsourcing facilitated by international trade. Countries that are severely affected by Swiss food consumption include Spain, the United States and Ecuador. Cocoa, coffee, and almonds stood out as products with high impacts. By identifying spatial hotspots and impactful products, awareness of policy-makers as well as individual consumers can be raised and efforts of detailed assessments can be streamlined. However, political and economic constraints and the resistance by individual consumers limit the high potential of changes in diets and trade relations to decrease the environmental impacts of food.Keywords
This publication has 56 references indexed in Scilit:
- Spatially Explicit Analysis of Biodiversity Loss Due to Global Agriculture, Pasture and Forest Land Use from a Producer and Consumer PerspectiveEnvironmental Science & Technology, 2016
- Teleconnecting Consumption to Environmental Impacts at Multiple Spatial ScalesJournal of Industrial Ecology, 2014
- Spatial decoupling of agricultural production and consumption: quantifying dependences of countries on food imports due to domestic land and water constraintsEnvironmental Research Letters, 2013
- International trade drives biodiversity threats in developing nationsNature, 2012
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services: a multilayered relationshipTrends in Ecology & Evolution, 2012
- Solutions for a cultivated planetNature, 2011
- Ethical Extensionism under Uncertainty of Sentience: Duties to Non-Human Organisms without Drawing a LineEnvironmental Values, 2011
- Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion PeopleScience, 2010
- Virtual land use and agricultural trade: Estimating environmental and socio-economic impactsEcological Economics, 2006
- Revisiting carrying capacity: Area-based indicators of sustainabilityPopulation and Environment, 1996