ILCD Handbook: Framework and requirements for LCIA models and ...

ILCD Handbook: Framework and requirements for LCIA models and indicators First edition
needed to safeguard the availability of resources that can be used, including land, with a
focus on the use-value for humans.
3.3.2 Background and Discussion
A clear distinction between this Area of Protection and the AoPs of ‗Human Health‘ and
‗Natural Environment‘ does not exist. They are intrinsically linked. The extraction of
resources, such as mineral deposits, fossil energy carriers, fish, trees, and water has many
repercussions on the environment. The extracting activity in itself – e.g. mining, forestry,
fishery – releases toxic emissions, creates noise, damages the landscape, etc., which are
dealt with under other AoPs,
Complementarily, this AoP is concerned with, the removal of resources from the
environment (and their use) which results in a decrease in the availability of the total
resource stock 18 , as non-renewable (usually abiotic) resources are finite. Conversely, the
availability of renewable resources (usually biotic) depends entirely on the time they take to
regenerate relative to the time we take in consuming them. As resources dwindle, the
economic system upon which human welfare depends may be damaged. Resource scarcity
is therefore the rationale for this AoP.
The extraction of biotic resources through, e.g., intensive land use can impact on both
ecosystems and human welfare. For example, fish populations may decline, and thereby
resulting in less food for both human and non-human species; the food chain of an
ecosystem may breakdown; or forests may collapse, resulting in the disappearance of forestdwelling
species.
The extraction of water could lead to smaller reserves of potable water.
The extraction of non-renewable resources may mean (depending on its recycling
potential) that we limit – or even eliminate - the future possibility to use that resource. For
example, if all coal mines are exhausted, then there is no coal left to run the equipment that
relies on that particular resource.
Similarly, when the dodo became extinct, it was permanently eliminated, a prospect which
some species (e.g. fish) are subject to. The exhaustion of these global biotic and abiotic
stocks may, therefore, be irreversible.
The characterisation models used in LCIA for the category indicators for Natural
Resources (based on quantifying the effort needed to safeguard the availability of
resources), have an anthropocentric approach as they focus on the use value for humans,
largely excluding its non-use and intrinsic value 19 . Resources serve many functions for
humans. De Groot (1992) presented a list of the functions of ecosystems, and these are
presented solely with an anthropocentric perspective (see Figure 3-2).
Udo de Haes et al. (1999) similarly adopt an anthropocentric perspective and define
natural resources as ―those elements that are extracted for human use. They comprise both
abiotic resources, such as fossil fuels and mineral ores, and biotic resources, such as wood
and fish. They have predominantly a functional value for society.”
The absence of fish as a human food resource would, in theory, affect humans, especially
since many societies live and depend on coastal zones. Concomitantly, the abundance or
absence of fish also affects other species: micro-organisms, other fish, birds, and other
predators along the food chain. As a result, the distinction between the AoP ‗Natural
18 At least of those stocks that are in a form that can be easily extractable with current technology
19 See also the ILCD background document: ―Analysis of Existing Environmental Impact Assessment
Methodologies and Indicators for Use in Life Cycle Assessment‖
3 Requirements for Areas of Protection 24