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International audience; Aim: Land use is the most pervasive driver of biodiversity loss. Predicting its impact on species richness (SR) is often based on indicators of habitat loss. However, the degradation of habitats, especially through land-use intensification, also affects species. Here, we evaluate whether an integrative metric of land-use intensity, the human appropriation of net primary production, is correlated with the decline of SR in used landscapes across the globe. Location Global. Time period Present. Major taxa studied Birds, mammals and amphibians. Methods: Based on species range maps (spatial resolution: 20 km × 20 km) and an area-of-habitat approach, we calibrated a “species–energy model” by correlating the SR of three groups of vertebrates with net primary production and biogeographical covariables in “wilderness” areas (i.e., those where available energy is assumed to be still at pristine levels). We used this model to project the difference between pristine SR and the SR corresponding to the energy remaining in used landscapes (i.e., SR loss expected owing to human energy extraction outside wilderness areas). We validated the projected species loss by comparison with the realized and impending loss reconstructed from habitat conversion and documented by national Red Lists. Results Species–energy models largely explained landscape-scale variation of mapped SR in wilderness areas (adjusted R2-values: 0.79–0.93). Model-based projections of SR loss were lower, on average, than reconstructed and documented ones, but the spatial patterns were correlated significantly, with stronger correlation in mammals (Pearson's r = 0.68) than in amphibians (r = 0.60) and birds (r = 0.57). Main conclusions: Our results suggest that the human appropriation of net primary production is a useful indicator of heterotrophic species loss in used landscapes, hence we recommend its inclusion in models based on species–area relationships to improve predictions of land-use-driven biodiversity loss.

Environmentally extended multiregional input-output (EE MRIO) tables have emerged as a key framework to provide a comprehensive description of the global economy and analyze its effects on the environment. Of the available EE MRIO databases, EXIOBASE stands out as a database compatible with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) with a high sectorial detail matched with multiple social and environmental satellite accounts. In this paper, we present the latest developments realized with EXIOBASE 3—a time series of EE MRIO tables ranging from 1995 to 2011 for 44 countries (28 EU member plus 16 major economies) and five rest of the world regions. EXIOBASE 3 builds upon the previous versions of EXIOBASE by using rectangular supply-use tables (SUTs) in a 163 industry by 200 products classification as the main building blocks. In order to capture structural changes, economic developments, as reported by national statistical agencies, were imposed on the available, disaggregated SUTs from EXIOBASE 2. These initial estimates were further refined by incorporating detailed data on energy, agricultural production, resource extraction, and bilateral trade. EXIOBASE 3 inherits the high level of environmental stressor detail from its precursor, with further improvement in the level of detail for resource extraction. To account for the expansion of the European Union (EU), EXIOBASE 3 was developed with the full EU28 country set (including the new member state Croatia). EXIOBASE 3 provides a unique tool for analyzing the dynamics of environmental pressures of economic activities over time.

Although most conservation efforts address the direct, local causes of biodiversity loss, effective long‐term conservation will require complementary efforts to reduce the upstream economic pressures, such as demands for food and forest products, which ultimately drive these downstream losses. Here, we present a wildlife footprint analysis that links global losses of wild birds to consumer purchases across 57 economic sectors in 129 regions. The United States, India, China, and Brazil have the largest regional wildlife footprints, while per‐person footprints are highest in Mongolia, Australia, Botswana, and the United Arab Emirates. A US$100 purchase of bovine meat or rice products occupies approximately 0.1 km2 of wild bird ranges, displacing 1–2 individual birds, for 1 year. Globally significant importer regions, including Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and France, have large footprints that drive wildlife losses elsewhere in the world and represent important targets for consumption‐focused conservation attention.

Fundamental economic and societal transformations are necessary to avoid dangerous climate change. One broad policy approach that addresses the close relationship between conservation and climate change mitigation is based on correcting a market failure, that is, to establish a price signal for carbon, or more generally, greenhouse gas emissions. While many synergies between climate policy instruments and biodiversity conservation do exist, current policies often fall short of harvesting this potential. Here, we present six key challenges: (1) establishing a strong price signal for greenhouse gas emissions from all emission sources (including land-use and the terrestrial biosphere) that takes into account long-term societal and ecological costs; (2) expand carbon market instruments to cover the full range of greenhouse gases; (3) develop an ambitious, yet accountable architecture for rising emission prices; (4) develop guidelines and ensure enforcement to avoid greenhouse gas leakage; (5) improve greenhouse gas emission measurements from land-use and the biosphere; and (6) integrate emission reduction as a priority into relevant policies. Substantial synergies, but also trade-offs between climate policy and conservation exist, and we identify key risks and challenges. We call for (1) evidence-based evaluations of policy options; (2) avoiding too narrow framings of contested issues such as forest plantations, biofuels, or land-use decisions that exclude (or downplay) indirect effects (e.g., indirect land-use changes or creating carbon debts); and (3) strengthening integrated analyzes beyond sector policy goals. We conclude that avoiding bio-perverse impacts of climate policies on biodiversity will be crucial for the success of global climate change mitigation. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Summary Human-induced changes in global stocks and flows of carbon are major drivers of global climate change. This article presents a comprehensive and systemic account of a nation's carbon budget, comprising socioeconomic as well as ecological carbon flows in a historic time series. The example of Austria 1830–2000, for which excellent databases facilitate a comprehensive assessment, suggests that changes in socioeconomic metabolism during the agrarian−industrial transition are intimately linked with changes in land use and natural carbon flows. In the preindustrial agrarian colonization of Austria (during the thousands of years before 1830), a huge amount of carbon was released due to the expansion of agricultural land. At the dawn of Austria's industrialization (1830–1880), this process was terminated, and carbon inflows and outflows of ecosystems were approximately balanced. With rising fossil fuel consumption, Austria's socioeconomic system added growing amounts of carbon to the atmosphere each year. At the same time, fossil-fuel-powered surges in the productivity of agro-ecosystems facilitated the production of growing amounts of agricultural biomass on shrinking agricultural areas. This greatly enhanced ecological carbon flows and, together with decreasing pressures on forests, allowed ecosystems to recover from past depletion and absorb increasing amounts of carbon. The systematic interlinkage between the socioeconomic energy system and carbon flows in ecosystems, as documented in this study, underlines the need for comprehensive and consistent analyses of society−nature interaction to develop monitoring tools and support strategies aimed at a more sustainable future.

Summary This article presents an assessment of energy inputs of the European Union (the 15 countries before the 2004 enlargement, abbreviated EU-15) for the period 1970–2001 and the United States for 1980–2000. The data are based on an energy flow analysis (EFA) that evaluates socioeconomic energy flows in a way that is conceptually consistent with current materials flow analysis (MFA) methods. EFA allows assessment of the total amount of energy required by a national economy; it yields measures of the size of economic systems in biophysical units. In contrast to conventional energy balances, which only include technically used energy, EFA also accounts for socioeconomic inputs of biomass; that is, it also considers food, feed, wood and other materials of biological origin. The energy flow accounts presented in this article do not include embodied energy. Energy flow analyses are relevant for comparisons across modes of subsistence (e.g., agrarian and industrial society) and also to detect interrelations between energy utilization and land use. In the EU-15, domestic energy consumption (DEC = apparent consumption = domestic extraction plus import minus export) grew from 60 exajoules per year (1 EJ = 1018 J) in 1970 to 79 EJ/yr in 2001, thus exceeding its territory's net primary production (NPP, a measure of the energy throughput of ecosystems). In the United States, DEC increased from 102 EJ/yr in 1980 to 125 EJ/yr in 2000 and was thus slightly smaller than its NPP. Taken together, the EU-15 and the United States accounted for about 38% of global technical energy use, 31% of humanity's energetic metabolism, but only 10% of global terrestrial NPP and 11% of world population in the early 1990s. Per capita DEC of the United States is more than twice that of the EU-15. Calculated according to EFA methods, energy input in the EU and the United States was between one-fifth and one-third above the corresponding value reported in conventional energy balances. The article discusses implications of these results for sustainability, as well as future research needs.