global material flows & transport

Key question: How does globalisation influence resource use, commodities and passenger flows between Europe and other regions of the world?

Globalisation can be made perceptible by using the help of numerical evidence. This implies the quantitative analysis of global flows of goods (raw materials, semi-finished and finished goods), money, and passengers. First of all, investigation centers on flows that have developed over the last 10-20 years in view of their volumes and geographical tendency. Then, it is interesting to find out what impact these developments have on the environment (ecology) and which connections arise between resource use and the inter-regional distribution of value added (e.g. gross domestic product per head) on the one hand and ecological and social impacts on the other hand.

The following questions have been dealt with among others:

• How have global material flows within the European Union (EU) changed (raw materials, semi-finished and finished products, services, waste)?
• How has the ratio of physical trade flows changed the domestic total extraction of raw materials in the EU?
• Which patterns can be inferred to which driving forces?
• Which significant effects on the environment are related to the changes of the global material flows integrations of the EU?
• How did the ecological rucksacks in connection with the South North-trade flows of the EU change?
• How did the international transport of passengers and goods as well as tourism change?
• Which patterns can be recognized and how can they be evaluated in view of a sustainable development?

>>> Further literature to read

Contact:
Dr. Stefan Bringezu
Research Group "Material Flows and Resource Management"
Tel.: +49 / 202 - 2492 - 131
Fax: +49 / 202 - 2492 - 138
E-Mail: stefan.bringezu@wupperinst.org