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2012 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Regional Environmental Life Cycle Assessment for Improving Food Chain Sustainability

Author: Dr. Pegah Amani

Publisher: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

Book Series : Edition KWV

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

Current LCA methodologies employed to assess the intensity of environmental impacts lack a regional view, even though the sensitivity of the receiving environment is important in determining the specific levels of risks.
This book seeks to redress the balance and develop a globally applicable, affordable and feasible approach to determine differentiated sets of possible impacts with higher environmental burdens derived from food supply chain processes. To this end, the earth’s land surface is divided into so-called “ecoregions”, defined by their specific characteristics such as soil, climate, and topography/physiography, and associated with the relevant risks for each ecoregion.
The use of ecoregions and respective environmental risks can help enterprises recognize the environmental effect of their products but also help improve the reliability of comparisons between LCA results in different regions.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
The global increase in population growth by 34 %, which is estimated to reach an overall number of 9.1 billion people by 2050, raises the demand of food products by 70 % (FAO 2009). Assuming a geometrical increase in the world’s population, everincreasing amounts of arable land, water, energy, and biological resources will be required to meet the current and future demand for food products. The complex interaction between food production and the natural environment is mentioned in the literature on food networks. (Bertalanffy 1950, Leischow and Milstein 2006, Sobal, Kettel Khan and Bisogni 1998)
Pegah Amani
Chapter 2. Environmental impact assessment in a food network
Abstract
This chapter begins with an overview of the food network and the movement towards a sustainable food supply chain. It continues with an overview of LCA, distinguishing between the following areas of protection: ecosystem health, human health, and resource provision capability for human welfare on the one hand, and on the other midpoint impact categories (including climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity, respiratory inorganics, photochemical ozone formation, acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicity, land use, and resource depletion) which may touch upon one of the areas of protection.
Pegah Amani
Chapter 3. Ecosystem and food network
Abstract
An ecological view of food products focuses on describing the interactions between the food supply chain processes and the biotic and abiotic environment through illustrating how these processes affect the absorption, transfer, and losses of carbon and nutrients from the ecosystem. However, due to a scarcity of detailed information in this area, the ecological analysis of the food supply chain is very complex in time and space, and frequently, some spatial and temporal elements are overlooked in the effort to find an appropriate scale to express the ecology of the food supply chain. (Jackson 1997)
Pegah Amani
Chapter 4. Geographical division of global lands into “ecoregions”
Abstract
The population growth of humanity has increased globally by 34 %, leading to an estimated population of 9.1 billion people by 2050 which will raise the demand for food products by 70 %. (FAO 2009) The distribution of population growth (from 2008 to 2060) in the map by Patterson (2008) shows that the driest regions of the Earth such as Africa and the Middle East have a higher rate of growth. These regions also include those areas of Earth with moderate to severely degraded soils illustrated in the global soil degradation map. (SRIC 2002)
Pegah Amani
Chapter 5. Analysis of environmental risks associated with ecoregions
Abstract
In the previous chapters, the environmental risks associated with the food chain and the factors affecting these risks have been determined (tables 3.6-1 and 3.6-2). Apart from those, global lands have been divided into different ecoregions, and the specifications of these ecoregions which are linked to the factors affecting environmental risks have been determined through a review of literature and data collection. (Tables 4.3-1 and 4.3-2)
Pegah Amani
Chapter 6. Selection of relevant impact categories and LCIA methodologies for the environmental assessment of food products
Abstract
In the previous chapter, a comparative analysis of the environmental risks associated with the food chain in different ecoregions was performed in order to set priorities for the resulting environmental impacts. In this chapter, the sets of relevant environmental impacts for each ecoregion will be determined.
Pegah Amani
Chapter 7. Discussion and recommendations
Abstract
There is an increased interest in the assessment of environmental impacts associated with products in the food sector. The magnitude and intensity of environmental impacts are dependent on the chain management practices determining type and amount of pollutant substance, time, method, and frequency of application, etc. However, the magnitude and intensity of environmental impacts can also be dependent on specifications of the receiving environment in terms of its sensitivity to the emission.
Pegah Amani
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Regional Environmental Life Cycle Assessment for Improving Food Chain Sustainability
Author
Dr. Pegah Amani
Copyright Year
2012
Electronic ISBN
978-3-658-24009-7
Print ISBN
978-3-658-24008-0
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-24009-7