Resource flows and land use in Austria 1950-2000: using the MEFA framework to monitor society-nature interaction for sustainability

This paper presents the `MEFA toolbox', which is designed to measure society-nature interaction. MEFA stands for `material and energy flow accounting' and refers to a set of quantitative methods to trace the materials and energy throughput of societies in a way that can be readily linked to established socio-economic data sets on a national and sub-national level. Within the MEFA framework, accounts of socio-economic material and energy stocks and flows can be linked to land use and its impact on material and energy stocks and flows in terrestrial ecosystems. Using Austria 1950-2000 as an empirical example, we demonstrate how MEFA tools can be used to assess the correlation of physical and monetary growth, and we discuss how changes in socio-economic metabolism and land use are related. We also outline some possible future research directions. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.