IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v52y2008i8p1082-1086.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Societal metabolism in Northeast China: Case study of Liaoning Province

Author

Listed:
  • Xu, Ming
  • Jia, Xiao-Ping
  • Shi, Lei
  • Zhang, Tian-Zhu

Abstract

Societal metabolism is now the outstanding emphasis of the study of sustainability. Although a great deal of studies have been done for national socio-economic systems, few results are available for subdivision level, especially in China which is the world manufacture center and one of the most important economic entities of the world. Based on the method of material flow analysis (MFA), societal metabolism in Liaoning Province, one of subdivisions of Northeast China, is studied in this article. This research can be regarded as the first attempt for studying societal metabolism of provincial socio-economic systems in China. A set of MFA indicators are measured to illustrate the quantity and quality of societal metabolism in Liaoning Province because of the lack of imports and exports data for provincial socio-economic systems. The study covers the time period from 1990 to 2003 when the Chinese central government was making great efforts to vitalize the Northeast China's traditional industrial base. MFA indicators are integrated with economic and demographic indicators to scale the material intensity and efficiency of Liaoning's socio-economic system. The results show that the quantitative development of societal metabolism in Liaoning is similar with that of China in the same period, which can be divided into three phases highly matching up to the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Five-Year National Economy and Social Development Plans implemented by Chinese central government. The results prove that the societal metabolism of a socio-economic system is greatly dominated by the macro-policy in China. Moreover, the relative amount of societal metabolism in Liaoning is higher than the average level of China. However, the quantitative advantage of societal metabolism did not succeed to satisfied economic and social return. The efficiency of societal metabolism in Liaoning is lower than the average level of whole China, and of course extremely lower than that of developed countries. For instance, Liaoning's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) generated by unit input of natural resources in 2003 is roughly equal to 30% of the average level of 15 main countries in European Union in 2000 and 10% of the average level of Japan in 1996. The methodology development for MFA in subdivision level is discussed and future research is proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Ming & Jia, Xiao-Ping & Shi, Lei & Zhang, Tian-Zhu, 2008. "Societal metabolism in Northeast China: Case study of Liaoning Province," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1082-1086.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:52:y:2008:i:8:p:1082-1086
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2008.04.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344908000621
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2008.04.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ming XU & Tianzhu ZHANG, 2007. "Material Flows and Economic Growth in Developing China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 11(1), pages 121-140, January.
    2. Stefan Bringezu & Helmut Schütz & Stephan Moll, 2003. "Rationale for and Interpretation of Economy‐Wide Materials Flow Analysis and Derived Indicators," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 7(2), pages 43-64, April.
    3. Weisz, Helga & Krausmann, Fridolin & Amann, Christof & Eisenmenger, Nina & Erb, Karl-Heinz & Hubacek, Klaus & Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, 2006. "The physical economy of the European Union: Cross-country comparison and determinants of material consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 676-698, July.
    4. Peter G. Zhang, 2004. "The Chinese Economy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Chinese Yuan (Renminbi) Derivative Products, chapter 3, pages 21-37, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Scasny, Milan & Kovanda, Jan & Hak, Tomas, 2003. "Material flow accounts, balances and derived indicators for the Czech Republic during the 1990s: results and recommendations for methodological improvements," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 41-57, April.
    6. Stefan Giljum, 2004. "Trade, Materials Flows, and Economic Development in the South: The Example of Chile," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 8(1‐2), pages 241-261, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qu, Lili & Zhang, Tianzhu & Liang, Sai, 2013. "Waste management of urban agglomeration on a life cycle basis," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 47-53.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew Adewale Alola & Seyi Saint Akadiri & Ojonugwa Usman, 2021. "Domestic material consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the EU‐28 countries: Implications for environmental sustainability targets," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 388-397, March.
    2. Kovanda, Jan & Weinzettel, Jan & Hak, Tomas, 2009. "Analysis of regional material flows: The case of the Czech Republic," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 243-254.
    3. Papathanasopoulou, Eleni & Jackson, Tim, 2008. "Fossil resource trade balances: Emerging trends for the UK," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 492-505, June.
    4. Kovanda, Jan, 2014. "Incorporation of recycling flows into economy-wide material flow accounting and analysis: A case study for the Czech Republic," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 78-84.
    5. Gonzalez-Martinez, Ana Citlalic & Schandl, Heinz, 2008. "The biophysical perspective of a middle income economy: Material flows in Mexico," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 317-327, December.
    6. Raupova, Ozoda & Kamahara, Hirotsugu & Goto, Naohiro, 2014. "Assessment of physical economy through economy-wide material flow analysis in developing Uzbekistan," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 76-85.
    7. Fridolin Krausmann & Marina Fischer-Kowalski & Heinz Schandl & Nina Eisenmenger, 2008. "The Global Sociometabolic Transition," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 637-656, October.
    8. Jan Kovanda & Tomas Hak, 2008. "Changes in Materials Use in Transition Economies," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 721-738, October.
    9. Behrens, Arno & Giljum, Stefan & Kovanda, Jan & Niza, Samuel, 2007. "The material basis of the global economy: Worldwide patterns of natural resource extraction and their implications for sustainable resource use policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 444-453, December.
    10. West, James & Schandl, Heinz, 2013. "Material use and material efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 19-27.
    11. J., Pablo Muñoz & Hubacek, Klaus, 2008. "Material implication of Chile's economic growth: Combining material flow accounting (MFA) and structural decomposition analysis (SDA)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 136-144, March.
    12. Kalimeris, Panos & Bithas, Kostas & Richardson, Clive & Nijkamp, Peter, 2020. "Hidden linkages between resources and economy: A “Beyond-GDP” approach using alternative welfare indicators," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    13. Nina Eisenmenger & Jesús Ramos Martín & Heinz Schandl, 2007. "Análisis del metabolismo energético y de materiales de Brasil, Chile y Venezuela," Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Red Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, vol. 6, pages 17-39.
    14. Anke Schaffartzik & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Nina Eisenmenger, 2015. "Raw Material Equivalents: The Challenges of Accounting for Sustainability in a Globalized World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-26, April.
    15. Ana Citlalic González Martínez & Sílvia Cañellas Boltà & Ignasi Puig Ventosa & Daniela Russi & Cristina Sendra Sala & Amalia Sojo Benítez, 2010. "El flujo de materiales y el desarrollo económico en España: un análisis sobre desmaterialización (1980-2004)," Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Red Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, vol. 14, pages 33-51, Abril.
    16. Kuskova, Petra & Gingrich, Simone & Krausmann, Fridolin, 2008. "Long term changes in social metabolism and land use in Czechoslovakia, 1830-2000: An energy transition under changing political regimes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 394-407, December.
    17. Daniela Russi & Ana C. Gonzalez-Martinez & José Carlos Silva-Macher & Stefan Giljum & Joan Martínez-Alier & Maria Cristina Vallejo, 2008. "Material Flows in Latin America," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 704-720, October.
    18. Vallejo, Maria Cristina, 2010. "Biophysical structure of the Ecuadorian economy, foreign trade, and policy implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 159-169, December.
    19. Weisz, Helga & Krausmann, Fridolin & Amann, Christof & Eisenmenger, Nina & Erb, Karl-Heinz & Hubacek, Klaus & Fischer-Kowalski, Marina, 2006. "The physical economy of the European Union: Cross-country comparison and determinants of material consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 676-698, July.
    20. Venkatachalam ANBUMOZHI & Ponciano S. INTAL, Jr., 2015. "Can Thinking Green and Sustainability Be an Economic Opportunity for ASEAN?," Working Papers DP-2015-66, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:52:y:2008:i:8:p:1082-1086. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.