167 Impacts on Biodiversity, Environment and Society of Beef Production in the Mexican Tropics: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 91-91
Author(s):  
Adriana Rivera Huerta ◽  
Patricia Güereca Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
Tier 2 ◽  
Characterization Factors ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Pasture Land ◽  
Enteric Methane ◽  
Mexican Tropics

Abstract Beef production exerts strong environmental pressures and can also generate negative social effects. In this study, the impacts on biodiversity, environment and society of beef production in the Mexican tropics, were evaluated through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The functional unit of the study was 1 kg live weight of calf and focused on three productive systems: native silvopastoral (NSP), intensive silvopastoral (ISP) and monoculture (MC). This research was divided into four analysis steps. (1) social impacts; (2) damage to biodiversity; (3) methane emissions and 4) environmental LCA impacts. Using the Social-LCA, we evaluated 18 social indicators, grouped into five categories: human rights, working conditions, health and safety, socio-economic repercussions, and governance. The results showed similarities between the three livestock systems, which revealed a deficient social performance. For projecting the biodiversity damage of pasture land use from an LCA perspective, characterization factors (CFs) were estimated. CFs consist of dimensionless figures representing the potential for damage per unit area of pasture land (potential species loss per m2). The CFs were calculated for three levels of pasture land use intensity (minimal/NSP, light/ISP, intense/MC). Based on the characterization factors developed, the MC showed the least potential species loss. Enteric methane emissions from the production systems were determined using the IPCC Tier 2. The results revealed that the emissions values from enteric methane calculated with Tier 1 overestimated the emissions compared to Tier 2 methodology. LCA indicated a lower environmental impact of the MC on four of the seven categories analyzed, highlighting its lower contribution to climate change and reducing species loss. However, consumption of water and scarcity of fossil fuel resources increased. To achieve tropical sustainable livestock farming, further lines of research should be aimed at evaluating its economic impacts and propose management systems that guarantee better social and environmental performance.

A life cycle assessment approach to quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change for beef production in eastern Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley K. Henry ◽  
D. Butler ◽  
S. G. Wiedemann
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
New South ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Direct Land Use Change

In life cycle assessment studies, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from direct land-use change have been estimated to make a significant contribution to the global warming potential of agricultural products. However, these estimates have a high uncertainty due to the complexity of data requirements and difficulty in attribution of land-use change. This paper presents estimates of GHG emissions from direct land-use change from native woodland to grazing land for two beef production regions in eastern Australia, which were the subject of a multi-impact life cycle assessment study for premium beef production. Spatially- and temporally consistent datasets were derived for areas of forest cover and biomass carbon stocks using published remotely sensed tree-cover data and regionally applicable allometric equations consistent with Australia’s national GHG inventory report. Standard life cycle assessment methodology was used to estimate GHG emissions and removals from direct land-use change attributed to beef production. For the northern-central New South Wales region of Australia estimates ranged from a net emission of 0.03 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1 to net removal of 0.12 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1 using low and high scenarios, respectively, for sequestration in regrowing forests. For the same period (1990–2010), the study region in southern-central Queensland was estimated to have net emissions from land-use change in the range of 0.45–0.25 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1. The difference between regions reflects continuation of higher rates of deforestation in Queensland until strict regulation in 2006 whereas native vegetation protection laws were introduced earlier in New South Wales. On the basis of liveweight produced at the farm-gate, emissions from direct land-use change for 1990–2010 were comparable in magnitude to those from other on-farm sources, which were dominated by enteric methane. However, calculation of land-use change impacts for the Queensland region for a period starting 2006, gave a range from net emissions of 0.11 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1 to net removals of 0.07 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1. This study demonstrated a method for deriving spatially- and temporally consistent datasets to improve estimates for direct land-use change impacts in life cycle assessment. It identified areas of uncertainty, including rates of sequestration in woody regrowth and impacts of land-use change on soil carbon stocks in grazed woodlands, but also showed the potential for direct land-use change to represent a net sink for GHG.

scholarly journals Environmental impact of primary beef production chain in Colombia: Carbon footprint, non-renewable energy and land use using Life Cycle Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 773 ◽  
pp. 145573
Author(s):  
Ricardo González-Quintero ◽  
Diana María Bolívar-Vergara ◽  
Ngonidzashe Chirinda ◽  
Jacobo Arango ◽  
Heiber Pantevez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Production Chain

scholarly journals Land Use in Life Cycle Assessment: Global Characterization Factors Based on Regional and Global Potential Species Extinction

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (16) ◽  
pp. 9281-9290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura de Baan ◽  
Christopher L. Mutel ◽  
Michael Curran ◽  
Stefanie Hellweg ◽  
Thomas Koellner
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Characterization Factors ◽  
Species Extinction ◽  
Global Characterization Factors

scholarly journals Global process-based characterization factors of soil carbon depletion for life cycle impact assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo F. M. Teixeira ◽  
Tiago G. Morais ◽  
Tiago Domingos
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Characterization Factors ◽  
Detailed Characterization ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Soc Stocks

AbstractRegionalization of land use (LU) impact in life cycle assessment (LCA) has gained relevance in recent years. Most regionalized models are statistical, using highly aggregated spatial units and LU classes (e.g. one unique LU class for cropland). Process-based modelling is a powerful characterization tool but so far has never been applied globally for all LU classes. Here, we propose a new set of spatially detailed characterization factors (CFs) for soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion. We used SOC dynamic curves and attainable SOC stocks from a process-based model for more than 17,000 world regions and 81 LU classes. Those classes include 63 agricultural (depending on 4 types of management/production), and 16 forest sub-classes, and 1 grassland and 1 urban class. We matched the CFs to LU elementary flows used by LCA databases at country-level. Results show that CFs are highly dependent on the LU sub-class and management practices. For example, transformation into cropland in general leads to the highest SOC depletion but SOC gains are possible with specific crops.

Developing physicochemical property-based ecotoxicity characterization factors for silver nanoparticles under mesocosm conditions for use in life cycle assessment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sila Temizel-Sekeryan ◽  
Andrea L. Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Silver Nanoparticles ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Physicochemical Property ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Characterization Factors ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Modern Technologies

Global production and consumption of silver nanoparticles (nAg) are forecasted to increase due to their applications in modern technologies. This situation raises concerns related to their environmental and human health...

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