A landmark study released today reveals that approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth – such as fresh water, capture fisheries, air and water regulation, and the…
Exploring past and future changes in the ecological footprint for world regions. The Ecological Footprint (EF) has received considerable attention as a useful indicator in the context of sustainable…
Outstanding Environmental Issues for Human Development
In this report it is shown that under business-as-usual scenarios, key issues for development such access to clean drinking water, food and modern energy will not be solved in time to realize the MDGs…
The significance of climate change in the Netherlands. An analysis of historical and future trends (1901-2020) in weather conditions, weather extremes and temperature-related impacts
A rigorous statistical analysis reveals changes in Dutch climate that are statistically significant over the last century. Annually averaged temperatures have increased by 1.5 about 0.5 degrees…
Global and regional surface nitrogen balances in intensive agricultural production systems for the periode of 1970-2030
The major conclusion of the paper is that despite the expected improvement of the efficiency in many countries, it is clear that the fast increase of production and intensification between now and…
A multi-gas abatement analysis of the Kyoto Protocol
An updated analysis of the costs of the Kyoto Protocol, now based on a multi-gas approach, accounting for all six Kyoto gases, shows that, in addition to reductions of CO 2 , a large share of the…
Multi-gas emission pathways for stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations
Stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations 450 CO 2 equivalent or lower requires global emissions to peak within the next two decades, followed by substantial overall reductions by as much as 30 to 50%…
Accounting for change of support in spatial accuracy assessment of modelled soil mineral phosphorous concentration
Agricultural activities in the Netherlands cause high nitrogen and phosphorous fluxes from soil to ground- and surface water. A model chain (STONE) has been developed to study and predict the…
Emission implications of long-term climate targets
The aim of this study is to explore allowable emissions levels of the set of the six greenhouse gases covered under the Kyoto Protocol on the long and short term compatible with any long-term climate…
Re-use of former farms entails structural change in rural areas
The number of farms in the Netherlands is declining. As a result, many agricultural buildings are losing their original function and designation. This paper considers the re-use of former agricultural…