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Summary In this article we compare the resource flows of Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru between 1980 and 2000. Our objective is to analyze the structure of social metabolism of extractive countries and the consequences of the neoliberal economic structural reforms on the use of natural resources. In two decades, the domestic extraction of materials increased considerably in the four countries, mainly due to the mining sector in Chile and Peru, biomass and oil in Ecuador, and construction minerals in Mexico. Imports and exports also increased, because of the increasingly deeper integration in international markets, prompted by liberalization policies implemented in the four countries between the late 1970s and the late 1990s. All four countries had a negative physical trade balance for most of the period analyzed, with exports exceeding imports in terms of weight. However, parallel growth of imports reduced the physical deficit in Chile, Mexico, and Peru. Ecuador's physical deficit was the highest and did not decrease during the last two decades. A diversification of exports away from bulk commodities could be observed in Chile and Mexico and to a lesser extent in Peru, whereas in Ecuador the export sector remained mainly based on oil and biomass. More research is needed to explore the environmental and social impacts of the neoliberal economic reforms. Also, the indirect flows associated with direct physical imports and exports deserve to be subjected to further analysis.

Abstract:Recently increasing attention has been paid to complementing environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with social aspects. The paper discusses the selection of social impacts and indicators from existing frameworks like Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA). Two ongoing case studies, addressing sustainability assessment within decision support, were considered: (1) Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Indonesia; and (2) Integrated Packaging Waste Management in Spain and Portugal (FENIX). The focus was put on social impacts occurring due to decisions within these systems, such as choice of technologies, practices or suppliers. Thus, decision makers-here understood as intended users of the studies' results-are not consumers that buy (or do not buy) a product, such as in recent SLCA case-studies, but mainly institutions that decide about the design of the water or packaging waste management system. Therefore, in the FENIX project, a list of social impacts identified from literature was sent to the intended users to be ranked according to their priorities. Finally, the paper discusses to what extent the entire life cycle is reflected in OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2011, 3 563SLCA impact categories and indicators, and explains how both life-cycle and on-site-related social impacts were chosen to be assessed. However, not all indicators in the two projects will assess all stages of the life cycle, because of their varying relevance in the different stages, data availability and practical interest of decision makers.

Introduction According to a World Bank study, of 3.3 billion people living in rural areas, only 1.5 billion have access to electricity (Cabraal et al, 1996). Lack of electrification in rural areas is an especially important issue in Southern countries (Chaurey et al, 2002), but it is also important in Europe (Vallve¨and Serrasolses, 1997). For example, in Catalonia, 1063 households still lack electricity (ICAEN, 2002). The reason for this in isolated areas is the high cost of extending the grid (Gabler, 1998). Moreover, in forested areas, grid extension implies deforestation, risk of fire, possible damage to avifauna, and an impact on the landscape. In this context, solar energy may represent a viable alternative to traditional rural electrification. Niche markets, where renewable energy is already competitive or almost competitive with traditional energy, such as stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) applications (Hoffmann, 2005), may help to expand the solar-energy market by increasing, through scale economies and investments in research, its competitiveness (Masini and Frankl, 2002). However, the state is an indispensable actor for launching renewable energies. Solar energy needs to be subsidised while rural electrification requires engaging various private and public actors with different, and possibly conflicting, values, interests, and requirements. Social multicriteria evaluation (SMCE) can be a useful policy framework to guarantee that decisions on energy policies for SMCE rural areas are made as transparent as possible, and to guarantee that all the involved actors can participate (Munda, 2004). We present a case study to deal with many issues that are typical of the rural electrification problem. Tagamanent is a village located in Montseny Natural Park, near Barcelona, and is where a conflict arose in 1994 over how to provide some isolated farmhouses with electricity. In order to understand the reasons for the conflict we perform a retroactive SMCE, with two objectives: first to give a clear and simple illustrative example of the application of SMCE in the field of renewable-energy