Vincent Dert 

The Impact Measurement and Conservation System (IMACS) was developed to calculate environmental and human condition impacts and to apply conservation required to neutralize such impacts for products and services purchased by end-user consumers (1- 6). With its implementation, the IMACS system would allow the fastest return to the best approximation of pre-industrial sustainable conditions. All environmental impacts take place on a location. Location Based Impacts (LBIs) are environmental impacts assigned to parcels (land) or designated areas (marine). Under IMACS, LBIs can be calculated for parcels and areas with a relatively high level of accuracy using remote sensing instruments (7). LBIs are distributed in a dynamic fashion over the products made and services rendered using these areas. However, as of today such accurate methods are not yet or insufficiently available. This article focuses on the use of methods to estimate impacts of the underlying variables needed for parcel delineation and the environmental impacts taking place on them (LBIs). These impacts include landscape change and the subsequent use as cultivated area, changes in biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, fresh water consumption, soil and surface water acidification, soil & sediment loss, coastal area at risk of flooding, atmospheric ozone layer damage and includes all applicable types of conserving impacts, including wildlife area conservation, carbon storage and protection of coastal areas from flooding due to sea level rise. The IMACS system depends on personal and organizational participation. The system can be jumpstarted and participation can be ramped up faster by using impact classification and estimation systems for products and services, labor outputs and location-based impacts (LBI)s. The use of such classification methods would allow a gradual transition from static and more crudely estimated impacts for products, services and personal labor to more accurately calculated dynamic impacts at higher levels of participation and is expected to significantly shorten the transition period to sustainable conditions.