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activities is still very limited. First trade-related indicators have been proposed and
studies applying them will be presented in the following section. Most MFA indicators
on the economy-wide level are highly aggregated and do not allow assessments
disaggregated by economic sectors or products. Another important point is the fact
that in aggregated MFA indicators, qualitative aspects (like the potential for
environmental harm) of different types of material flows remains unconsidered. MFA
indicators thus can reflect environmental pressures stemming from human activities,
but do not provide information on specific environmental impacts.
3.1 Review of trade-related physical accounting studies
In MFA studies on the national level, direct physical trade flows between the country
under consideration and the rest of the world are assessed. Figure 1 shows empirical
examples for selected industrialized and two Latin American countries.
Figure 1: Imports and exports as shares of direct material input for selected
industrialized and Southern countries, 1975-1995 (Venezuela 1988-1997)
60
50
40
30
20
Germany
10
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
60
50
40
30
20
10
United Kingdom
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Source: Fischer-Kowalski and Amann, 2001
60
50
40
30
20
10
The Netherlands
0
19 75 19 8 0 19 8 5 19 9 0 19 9 5
60
50
40
30
20
10
The four examples of industrialized countries illustrate, that in these countries
physical imports exceed physical exports, resulting in a physical trade surplus. 4
Densely populated countries with a scarce endowment of natural resources are in
particular dependent on resource imports from abroad. In the case of Japan, most
resources are consumed domestically by the Japanese socio-economic system. In
the case of the Netherlands, a large fraction of its high physical imports is re-exported
4 Note that the calculation of physical trade balances is done by subtracting exports from imports, in
reverse to monetary trade balances. Deficit in this context refers to the loss of biophysical resources.
11
Japan
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
60
50
40
30
20
10
Brazil
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
60
50
40
30
20
10
Venezuela
0
1988 1990 1992 1994 1996