Resources time footprint indicator extension for evaluating human interventions in provisioning ecosystem services supply

Abstract

The growing emphasis on ecosystem services (ES) has enhanced evaluation of their capacity. However, intensive human intervention in the provisioning ecosystem service (P-ES) supply driven by widening spatial gaps between supply sources and demand locations, compromises the long-term ES supply potential. The Resources Time Footprint (RTF) indicator provides numerical insights into these impacts in the form of occupancy rates by comparing resource utilization to allocated capacities over a person's lifespan. Nonetheless, its applicability to major P-ES is currently restricted due to the lack of water and water pollutant occupancy rates concepts. This study attempts to broaden the scope and robustness of RTF by introducing these missing aspects for enhanced P-ES management. Furthermore, by evaluating changes in RTF value around technological and social dynamics, resources requiring management interventions are identified. The extended RTF's potential is finally demonstrated through case studies involving consumable rice, water flow utilized for generating electricity via hydropower (HP), and sugarcane yielding consumable sugar and molasses with bagasse used to generate electricity. Based on prevailing resource conditions, all cases exhibited resource utilization within the allocated capacity. However, potential strain on specific resources such as land and water use in rice (24.63 and 18.69 years), copper in HP (8.46 years), and land and phosphate-potash minerals use in bagasse (22.66 and 23.56 years) highlights the need for interventions to ensure sustained benefits. The precise influence of water and water pollutants is inherently case and location specific; however, this study emphasized the necessity of integrating water use and availability factors into rice and HP supply-flow assessments. Overall, the enhanced RTF proved to be replicable across P-ESs, quantifying pressures, and guiding management strategies to maintain nature's regenerative capacity while meeting human needs.