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CDM-Reformen 2012
(2012)
Der Verlust wilder und landwirtschaftlicher Sorten- und Artenvielfalt schreitet immer weiter voran. Demgegenüber nehmen Biopatente stark zu, diese sind mitverantwortlich für den Sortenverlust, globale Ungerechtigkeiten, die Einschränkung der Wissensnutzung, etc. Viele internationale Abkommen betreffen den Umgang mit biologischer Vielfalt - doch die Frage nach Alternativen zum Eigentum an genetischen Ressourcen wird selten gestellt. Dabei gibt es genügend Ansätze, der Inwertsetzung der genetischen Ressourcen etwas entgegenzusetzen. In seiner Studie beschäftigt sich Gregor Kaiser mit diesen Alternativen, beleuchtet die Felder der Auseinandersetzung und stellt die Akteure vor. Er entwirft das Bild einer zukünftigen Züchtung und Biodiversitätsgestaltung, in der sich die Gesellschaften gemein machen mit ihrem Umfeld und sich einmischen in politische Prozesse.
Material flows induced by national economies can be regarded as indirect pressure indicators for environmental degradation. Economy-wide material flow analysis and indicators have been designed to monitor material and energy flows at the macroeconomic level and to provide indicators, which could contribute to management of resourceuse and output emission flows from both economic, environmental and broader sustainability points of view. These indicators can serve various purposes including monitoring the material basis of national economies and related environmental pressures, assessment of the material and resource productivity and monitoring the implications of trade and globalisation.
The main part of this paper compares the material and resourceuse of the Czech Republic, Germany and the EU-15 by means of DMI and TMR indicators over the period of 1991–2004 (1991–2000 for EU-15). At the aggregate level both indicators in all three economies do not show any clear decreasing or increasing trends over the period considered. This means that environmental pressure related to use of materials for production and consumption purposes remains rather stable. All the economies however, recorded an increase in the efficiency of transforming the material/resource inputs into economic output. The analysis further revealed that most of the dynamics of DMI and TMR in the Czech Republic tended towards a higher similarity with Germany and the EU-15. In the future, further decreases in DMI as well as in TMR of fossils fuels might be expected in the Czech Republic, which could be counteracted by increase in DMI and TMR of metal ores/metal resources and non-metallic minerals/non-metallic resources. The future development of total DMI, TMR and material/resource intensity in both the Czech Republic and Germany will depend on further shifts to less material intensive industries and services and on increasing material efficiency in production and consumption of particular products. This is not only a technological, but also a social challenge, as there are barriers in current mode of governance and in shaping of current economic and social systems to do so.
Macht für Nachhaltigkeit
(2012)
Managing solid waste is one of the biggest challenges in urban areas around the world. Technologically advanced economies generate vast amounts of organic waste materials, many of which are disposed to landfills. In the future, efficient use of carbon containing waste and all other waste materials has to be increased to reduce the need for virgin raw materials acquisition, including biomass, and reduce carbon being emitted to the atmosphere therefore mitigating climate change. At end-of-life, carbon-containing waste should not only be treated for energy recovery (e.g. via incineration) but technologies should be applied to recycle the carbon for use as material feedstocks. Thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies offer the option to utilize organic waste for the production of chemical feedstock and subsequent polymers. The routes towards synthetic materials allow a more closed cycle of materials and can help to reduce dependence on either fossil or biobased raw materials. This chapter summarizes carbon-recycling routes available and investigates how in the long-term they could be applied to enhance waste management in both industrial countries as well as developing and emerging economies. We conclude with a case study looking at the system-wide global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand (CED) of producing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) from organic waste feedstock via gasification followed by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS). Results of the analysis indicate that the use of organic waste feedstock is beneficial if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with landfill diversion are considered.