Informe El medio ambiente en Europa: Estado y perspectivas 2020

PART 3
FIGURE 16.7
The five-node resource nexus — water, land, energy, materials and ecosystem services — embedded
in natural capital
Energy
Abiotic natural capital
Materials
Production and
consumption
systems
Human
well-being
Food, energy, mobility
Ecosystem services
Biotic natural capital
Interdependence among resources
Nature's contributions to people
Emissions and wastes flows
Water
Land
Source:
EEA.
serious unintended consequences’, such
as externalisation of environmental
pressures, burden shifting or
distributional effects.
For example, analysis of 50 existing
EU policies confirms that policy is
normally framed within distinct sectoral
mandates, e.g. for water, agriculture
or energy (Venghaus and Hake, 2018).
Interactions between these three
domains have only recently become
a focus for attention, primarily through
informal statements of intent. The policy
areas in which cross-sectoral thinking is
most advanced are the agricultural and
water sectors, because of agriculture’s
key role as a source of pressures on
aquatic environments. Nexus thinking
does not emerge prominently in policies
regulating the energy sector, except
in relation to the impact of biofuels
and bioliquids on biodiversity, water
resources, water quality and soil quality
(Venghaus and Hake, 2018).
The low-carbon, circular,
bioeconomy nexus
The emergence of broader and
more systemic EU policy frameworks
addressing the low-carbon economy,
circular economy and bioeconomy
offers the potential for more integrated
management of natural resources.
Yet these frameworks also rely on the
same resource base, creating potential
synergies and trade-offs, as well
as raising questions about whether their
cumulative impacts are compatible with
protecting natural capital in Europe and
globally. Considering current and future
trends, there is a need to develop more
knowledge of synergies and trade‐offs
and of how to reconcile economic
activities, social needs and sustainable
management of ecosystems (EC, 2018d).
The finite capacity of ecosystems to
supply goods and services can also create
SOER 2020/Understanding sustainability challenges
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