Influence of Flemish consumption and production on global biodiversity

The pressure exerted by our consumption and production patterns on our biodiversity is not limited to Flanders. Through the emission of pollutants that cross borders, but also through international trade and foreign policy, we influence ecosystems all over the world. With this project, we want to investigate the extent to which the goods and services that we produce and consume here have an influence on biodiversity in Flanders and elsewhere in the world: we bring our so-called 'biodiversity footprint' into focus.
We examine how this footprint evolves, what share we pass on to other countries, in which countries our influence is greatest, and which sectors or consumer goods contribute most to it. We develop a reliable, coherent and recurrent set of indicators that policymakers can use to develop biodiversity-oriented production, consumption and trade policies.