Comparison of multi-criteria decision models to approach the trade-off between environmental sustainability and economical viability – a case of nitrogen balance in dairy farming systems in Reunion Island

2008 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. ALARY ◽  
M. GOUSSEFF ◽  
U. B. NIDUMOLU
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Dairy Farming ◽  
Reunion Island ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
Animal Management ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Réunion Island ◽  
Decision Making Processes

SUMMARYIn the context of market liberalization and in order to avoid trade distortions, European farmers risk experiencing a restriction of subsidies for market products. Moreover, policy makers cannot underestimate the public concerns about the non-productive functions of agriculture, such as environmental management. The current study illustrates different ways of modelling the trade-offs between environmental sustainability and economic viability for dairy farming systems in Reunion Island. Nitrogen (N) balance at the farm level is the result of complex interactions between pasture and animal management and between bio-technical and socio-economic management. Therefore, different multi-criteria models were tested using a common dynamic bio-economical model that integrated the different sub-systems of the farm and their interactions. Nitrogen excess mitigation in Reunion Island dairy farming systems was used as an illustration of a non-productive objective taken into account in the decision process modelling.The simulations highlighted the necessity to adapt the nitrogen mitigation objective to the technical level of local territories in order to adopt environmentally friendly practices, without jeopardizing the local dairy sector. Moreover, the models generated a different set of solutions that varied according to how non-production functions are integrated in farmers' decision-making processes. This constitutes a relevant basis for discussions between farmers and decision makers.

scholarly journals A participatory, territory-rooted and change-oriented approach to assess the multi-criteria contribution of an agrifood value chain to sustainable development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Vayssières ◽  
Alexandre Thévenot ◽  
Ivonne Acosta ◽  
Mathieu Vigne ◽  
Emmanuel Tillard
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Reunion Island ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Réunion Island ◽  
Resources Conservation ◽  
Methodological Guidelines

Agrifood Value chains (AVCs) can be powerful driving forces for sustainable development. Multi-criteria analysis is particularly useful for supporting decision making on improvement measures in AVCs. Methodological guidelines are still needed to effectively integrate environmental and socio-economical assessment tools and indicators at this level.In this paper, we propose a participatory, territory-rooted and change-oriented framework. The framework is applied to analyse the contribution of the main local poultry AVC in Reunion Island to the sustainable development of the territory. The main stakeholders of the AVC participated in (i) identifying key territory challenges, (ii) selecting corresponding appropriate assessment methods and indicators, (iii) defining the perimeter of the AVC and (iv) the improvement scenarios to be explored, v) providing data inventory, and vi) interpreting the results of the assessment.Both the environmental life cycle assessment and the effect method fit the proposed framework particularly well. They were applied to the same AVC data inventory, improvement scenarios were explored and indicators were spatialized to distinguish the local impacts in the root territory and externalized impacts at the global scale.In the ecological dimension of our case study, most of the effects linked to the AVC activities which threaten resources conservation and ecosystem health are externalized. This is due to strong dependency on foreign resources: in the case of fossil energy and raw materials used for livestock feed, 82% of environmental impacts occur outside Reunion Island. In the socio-economic dimension, the employment created by the AVC is mainly local due to the use of local services, 89% of jobs are provided in Reunion Island. Improvement of on-farm eco-efficiency was shown to be a mitigation option that would significantly affect the impacts of the AVC. Human and ecosystem health, and resources conservation would be improved by respectively +2.2, +9.8 and +4.8,% at global scale. But the AVC industrial network and the community would also be negatively affected, by respectively -2.2 and -3.0%, at local scale. This study underlines trade-offs between the environmental and the socio-economic dimensions and methodological challenges associated with the effective integration of assessment methods originating from diverse disciplines.

scholarly journals Energy Consumption on Dairy Farms: A Review of Monitoring, Prediction Modelling, and Analyses

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Shine ◽  
John Upton ◽  
Paria Sefeedpari ◽  
Michael D. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Dairy Farming ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Energy Prediction ◽  
Prediction Modelling ◽  
The Impact

The global consumption of dairy produce is forecasted to increase by 19% per person by 2050. However, milk production is an intense energy consuming process. Coupled with concerns related to global greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, increasing the production of milk must be met with the sustainable use of energy resources, to ensure the future monetary and environmental sustainability of the dairy industry. This body of work focused on summarizing and reviewing dairy energy research from the monitoring, prediction modelling and analyses point of view. Total primary energy consumption values in literature ranged from 2.7 MJ kg−1 Energy Corrected Milk on organic dairy farming systems to 4.2 MJ kg−1 Energy Corrected Milk on conventional dairy farming systems. Variances in total primary energy requirements were further assessed according to whether confinement or pasture-based systems were employed. Overall, a 35% energy reduction was seen across literature due to employing a pasture-based dairy system. Compared to standard regression methods, increased prediction accuracy has been demonstrated in energy literature due to employing various machine-learning algorithms. Dairy energy prediction models have been frequently utilized throughout literature to conduct dairy energy analyses, for estimating the impact of changes to infrastructural equipment and managerial practices.

scholarly journals Cloud Radar Observations of Diurnal and Seasonal Cloudiness over Reunion Island

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 868
Author(s):  
Jonathan Durand ◽  
Edouard Lees ◽  
Olivier Bousquet ◽  
Julien Delanoë ◽  
François Bonnardot
Keyword(s):  
Sea Breeze ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Research Infrastructure ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Reunion Island ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Trade Winds ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Réunion Island ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite

In November 2016, a 95 GHz cloud radar was permanently deployed in Reunion Island to investigate the vertical distribution of tropical clouds and monitor the temporal variability of cloudiness in the frame of the pan-European research infrastructure Aerosol, Clouds and Trace gases Research InfraStructure (ACTRIS). In the present study, reflectivity observations collected during the two first years of operation (2016–2018) of this vertically pointing cloud radar are relied upon to investigate the diurnal and seasonal cycle of cloudiness in the northern part of this island. During the wet season (December–March), cloudiness is particularly pronounced between 1–3 km above sea level (with a frequency of cloud occurrence of 45% between 12:00–19:00 LST) and 8–12 km (with a frequency of cloud occurrence of 15% between 14:00–19:00 LST). During the dry season (June–September), this bimodal vertical mode is no longer observed and the vertical cloud extension is essentially limited to a height of 3 km due to both the drop-in humidity resulting from the northward migration of the ITCZ and the capping effect of the trade winds inversion. The frequency of cloud occurrence is at its maximum between 13:00–18:00 LST, with a probability of 35% at 15 LST near an altitude of 2 km. The analysis of global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-derived weather data also shows that the diurnal cycle of low- (1–3 km) and mid-to-high level (5–10 km) clouds is strongly correlated with the diurnal evolution of tropospheric humidity, suggesting that additional moisture is advected towards the island by the sea breeze regime. The detailed analysis of cloudiness observations collected during the four seasons sampled in 2017 and 2018 also shows substantial differences between the two years, possibly associated with a strong positive Indian Ocean Southern Dipole (IOSD) event extending throughout the year 2017.

Differential diagnoses of severe COVID‐19 in tropical areas: The experience of Reunion Island

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Krol ◽  
Nathalie Coolen‐Allou ◽  
Laura Teysseyre ◽  
Nicolas Traversier ◽  
Floryan Beasley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Differential Diagnoses ◽  
Reunion Island ◽  
Réunion Island ◽  
Tropical Areas
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