Desarrollo de la propuesta

7.7.1 Background and description

The concept of fair shares in environmental space was launched in 1992 by Friends of the Earth Netherlands. The scientific basis for it was de- veloped by the Wuppertal Institute in Germany. A fair share in environmental space is the quan- tity of resources that can be used for a country’s population without degrading the environment or forcing other people in the world, now or in the future, to make do with less.217 _{The concept}

was one of the contributions to the UN Confer- ence on Environment and Development held the same year in Rio de Janeiro. It rests on two basic principles: first, that all people have the same right to the earth’s natural resources, and second, that extraction of limited natural resources and emissions of pollutants must not be allowed to jeopardise ecosystem productivity and biodiver- sity. ‘All people’ means both generations now living and future generations. What was new about the concept in 1992 was the combination of a necessary adjustment of society to the envir- onment and the idea of global equity.218

In Sweden, the environmental space approach was presented in 1997 by Friends of the Earth Sweden (FoE Sweden) in its report Ställ om för

rättvist miljöutrymme (‘Making the transition

to fair shares in environmental space’), which formed part of a project carried out in 29 Euro- pean countries. As a basis for the national reports, a manual was prepared by the Wuppertal Institute

for Friends of the Earth Europe.219 _{FoE Sweden}

has calculated the environmental space available for energy use, agriculture and forestry, and use of a number of non-renewable raw materials.220

FoE Sweden views fair shares in environmental space more as an idea than as a practicable model for restructuring the international community.221 7.7.2 Method

In broad terms, the environmental space ap- proach involves estimating what levels of extrac- tion of a number of resources are ecologically sus- tainable and what levels of emissions nature can withstand. Permissible levels of extraction and emissions are then shared out among countries on the basis of their populations, and the resultant figures are compared with current consumption and releases. These calculations and comparisons form the basis for a discussion of how resource extraction and emissions could be reduced and re- distributed more equitably.

The nine resources or emissions that are in- cluded in the calculations, on a per capita per year basis, are:

• primary energy

• carbon dioxide emissions

• acidifying emissions (SO₂ and NO_x)

• non-renewable raw materials (cement, pig iron, aluminium, chlorine)

• total land area • lakes and rivers

• net ‘import’ of agricultural land • forests

• water use.

217. Friends of the Earth Sweden, Vad är rättvist miljöutrymme? (Online.) 218.SOU 2009:83, Bilagedel.

219.SOU 2009:83, Bilagedel.

220.Friends of the Earth Sweden, Vad är rättvist miljöutrymme? (Online.) 221.SOU 2009:83, Bilagedel.

Under several of these headings, subgroups exist.222, 223

7.7.3 Advantages and weaknesses

Advantages of the concept of fair shares in envir- onmental space include:

• In addition to ecological values, it incorpor- ates the ecological judgement that extraction of limited natural resources and emissions of pollutants must not be allowed to jeopardise ecosystem productivity and biodiversity. This is in line with the basic values underlying the environmental objectives system.

• The concept encourages discussion.

• It links the different dimensions of sustainable development.

• It can be used for areas of varying size. For ex- ample, calculations have been performed at the global, continental, regional and national levels. • Figures for Sweden are available.

Weaknesses of the approach include:

• The concepts ‘fair’ and ‘environmental space’ are not precisely defined and may therefore be regarded as unscientific.

• As well as ecological values, the concept en- compasses social values, which it is not the job of the environmental objectives system to deal with.

• If the principles of fair shares in environmen- tal space were to be implemented, it would, according to FoE Sweden, entail a very far- reaching redistribution of material resources from North to South.

• The method is not considered to be fully devel- oped.

• Existing calculations are from the 1990s and are beginning to be out of date.

7.7.4 usefulness

The concept of fair shares in environmental space is relevant to most of the environmental quality objectives.

The initial impression is that the approach could be difficult to use as a method of measur- ing and monitoring the global impacts of Swedish consumption. It could, though, be used in com- munication within the environmental objectives system, if the aim is to promote discussion and make visible in general terms

• the social judgement that all people have the same right to the earth’s natural resources • the ecological judgement that extraction of

limited natural resources and emissions of pol- lutants must not be allowed to jeopardise eco- system productivity and biodiversity.

In making this assessment, particular account has been taken of the fact that fair shares in environ- mental space encompasses social values, which it is not the job of the environmental objectives sys- tem to measure, and that the method is not fully developed.

222.Friends of the Earth Sweden (1998). 223.A. Mattsson (email, 5 Apr. 2010).