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.