A metabolic analysis of Menorca during the 2020 lockdown using the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism approach

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic forced many countries to put forth severe lockdown restrictions in order to stop the spread of the virus. Spain was one the most affected countries in Europe, and its non-essential socio-economic activities faced strict restrictions in the free movement of people. Within the Spanish territories the island of Menorca was more vulnerable to these movement restrictions, since it is mostly dependent on external resources and tourism in order to perform its socio-economic activities. Island territories like Menorca are already vulnerable to climate change threats such as sea-level rise and extreme weather patterns, but other non-climate stressors such as pandemics also threaten to render island territories under partial or total isolation. Learning how Menorca’s socio-economic activities operate resource-wise during these periods of isolation can help the island’s government to make decisions to improve their resource security and sustainability of the island. This work studies how the societal metabolism – i.e., the use of resources through the different levels and structures that conform the social system of the island – was like in Menorca under the lockdown restrictions during 2020 using the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach for metabolic analysis; and assesses Menorca’s potential for self-sufficiency. The results of the metabolic analysis show that during 2020 Menorca had a lower energy and water demand as consequence of a great loss of activity in the economic sectors, in particular that of tourism. Lesser energy consumption has translated to lower carbon emissions, and the loss of activity of the economic sectors has meant that the total gross value added generated by the island has also been lower than what the island generates under regular circumstances. This metabolic analysis show how Menorca works under conditions of isolation, reorganizing it hours of activity and use of resources mainly from the touristic sector and giving more emphasis on internal agricultural production. Should Menorca in the future become partly or totally isolated due to other circumstances, an organized rearrangement of its metabolism away from a high dependency on tourism and imports and towards internal production would aid the island to be more self-sufficient.