scholarly journals Environmental Sustainability of Food Consumption in Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biraj Adhikari ◽  
Trakarn Prapaspongsa

This study assesses the environmental sustainability of food consumption in Thailand, India, China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia by using a life cycle assessment. These five Asian countries were selected according to the differences in surface area, population density, GDP, and food consumption patterns. The data were obtained from Food and Agriculture Organization food balance sheets, Ecoinvent 3.4 and Agri-footprint 4.0 databases, and scientific publications. The environmental impact categories chosen were global warming, terrestrial acidification, eutrophication, eco-toxicity, human toxicity, and fossil resource scarcity. The impact assessment was carried out by using the ReCiPe2006 v1.1 method. Based on the analysis, the highest environmental impacts for all categories (except eutrophication) were from the food consumption in China, followed by the consumption in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and India. The major contributors to these impacts were meat, cereals, animal products, and alcoholic beverages. Meat was the highest contributor in all countries except India, because of low meat consumption in India. A calorie intake analysis was also conducted, which showed reductions in environmental impacts by shifting towards calorie-adequate and non-environmentally intensive diets in Thailand, China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Therefore, a reduction in the consumption of meat, cereals, animal products, and alcoholic beverages could therefore enhance the environmental sustainability of food consumption.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2525
Author(s):  
Camila López-Eccher ◽  
Elizabeth Garrido-Ramírez ◽  
Iván Franchi-Arzola ◽  
Edmundo Muñoz

The aim of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of household life cycles in Santiago, Chile, by household income level. The assessment considered scenarios associated with environmental policies. The life cycle assessment was cradle-to-grave, and the functional unit considered all the materials and energy required to meet an inhabitant’s needs for one year (1 inh/year). Using SimaPro 9.1 software, the Recipe Midpoint (H) methodology was used. The impact categories selected were global warming, fine particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity, mineral resource scarcity, and fossil resource scarcity. The inventory was carried out through the application of 300 household surveys and secondary information. The main environmental sources of households were determined to be food consumption, transport, and electricity. Food consumption is the main source, responsible for 33% of the environmental impacts on global warming, 69% on terrestrial acidification, and 29% on freshwater eutrophication. The second most crucial environmental hotspot is private transport, whose contribution to environmental impact increases as household income rises, while public transport impact increases in the opposite direction. In this sense, both positive and negative environmental effects can be generated by policies. Therefore, life-cycle environmental impacts, the synergy between policies, and households’ socio-economic characteristics must be considered in public policy planning and consumer decisions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthe Austgulen ◽  
Silje Skuland ◽  
Alexander Schjøll ◽  
Frode Alfnes

Food production is associated with various environmental impacts and the production of meat is highlighted as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. A transition toward plant-based and low-meat diets has thus been emphasised as an important contribution to reducing climate change. By combining results from a consumer survey, focus group interviews and an in-store field experiment, this article investigates whether Norwegian consumers are ready to make food choices based on what is environmentally sustainable. We ask how consumers perceive the environmental impacts of food consumption, whether they are willing and able to change their food consumption in a more climate-friendly direction, and what influences their perceptions and positions. The results show that there is uncertainty among consumers regarding what constitutes climate- or environmentally friendly food choices and that few consumers are motivated to change their food consumption patterns for climate- or environmental reasons. Consumers’ support to initiatives, such as eating less meat and increasing the prices of meat, are partly determined by the consumers’ existing value orientation and their existing consumption practices. Finally, we find that although providing information about the climate benefits of eating less meat has an effect on vegetable purchases, this does not seem to mobilise consumer action any more than the provision of information about the health benefits of eating less meat does. The article concludes that environmental policies aiming to transfer part of the responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to food consumers is being challenged by the fact that most consumers are still not ready to make food choices based on what is best for the climate or environment.


Author(s):  
Maha Abbas Abo Hussain

This study aimed to shed light on the impact of environmental accounting measured in (environmental cost accounting, environmental sustainability, and environmental policies) in industrial enterprises on the economy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To achieve the objectives of the study, the study relied on the descriptive-analytical approach, due to its suitability of the nature of the study, as well as the questionnaire tool was distributed to the study sample using random sample method, where (200) questionnaires were distributed to financial managers working in industrial enterprises in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Jeddah, the final study sample was (96) questionnaires. The results of the study showed that there is an impact of environmental accounting measured by (environmental cost accounting, environmental sustainability, and environmental policies) in industrial companies on the economy, individually and collectively. The study came out with a set of recommendations, the most important of which is the necessity of developing local standards or adopting international standards for environmental disclosure in other sectors in general and the state’s contribution to providing quantifiable environmental data and raising the limitations imposed on companies in particular in order to follow and encourage environmental laws.


Author(s):  
Stephen G. Mackenzie ◽  
◽  
Ilias Kyriazakis ◽  

The focus of this chapter is on the environmental impact consequences of endemic livestock health challenges that lead to deterioration in animal health, and on the potential impacts arising from their mitigations. The first part of the chapter concentrates on the potential of animal health to affect the environmental impact of livestock systems. Subsequently, it reviews the literature to date which has quantified the impact of health challenges for the environmental impacts of livestock systems. The potential of successful health interventions to mitigate negative environmental impacts represents a point of synergy between concerns around environmental sustainability and animal welfare, both of which represent 'hot topics' in the discourse surrounding the livestock industry and its sustainability. The challenges associated with modelling health interventions and their potential to mitigate environmental impacts constitute the last section in the chapter.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Lacour ◽  
Louise Seconda ◽  
Benjamin Allès ◽  
Serge Hercberg ◽  
Brigitte Langevin ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Lacour ◽  
Louise Seconda ◽  
Benjamin Allès ◽  
Serge Hercberg ◽  
Brigitte Langevin ◽  
...  

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 4998
Author(s):  
Vasileios Ntouros ◽  
Ioannis Kousis ◽  
Dimitra Papadaki ◽  
Anna Laura Pisello ◽  
Margarita Niki Assimakopoulos

In the last twenty years, research activity around the environmental applications of metal–organic frameworks has bloomed due to their CO2 capture ability, tunable properties, porosity, and well-defined crystalline structure. Thus, hundreds of MOFs have been developed. However, the impact of their production on the environment has not been investigated as thoroughly as their potential applications. In this work, the environmental performance of various synthetic routes of MOF nanoparticles, in particular ZIF-8, is assessed through a life cycle assessment. For this purpose, five representative synthesis routes were considered, and synthesis data were obtained based on available literature. The synthesis included different solvents (de-ionized water, methanol, dimethylformamide) as well as different synthetic steps (i.e., hours of drying, stirring, precursor). The findings revealed that the main environmental weak points identified during production were: (a) the use of dimethylformamide (DMF) and methanol (MeOH) as substances impacting environmental sustainability, which accounted for more than 85% of the overall environmental impacts in those synthetic routes where they were utilized as solvents and as cleaning agents at the same time; (b) the electricity consumption, especially due to the Greek energy mix which is fossil-fuel dependent, and accounted for up to 13% of the overall environmental impacts in some synthetic routes. Nonetheless, for the optimization of the impacts provided by the energy use, suggestions are made based on the use of alternative, cleaner renewable energy sources, which (for the case of wind energy) will decrease the impacts by up to 2%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3092
Author(s):  
Mohammad S. M. Almulhim ◽  
Dexter V. L. Hunt ◽  
Chris D. F. Rogers

In Saudi Arabia, the carbon footprint and energy use that results from using concrete in construction is a major negative contributor to the environmental effects of building materials. Likewise, the impact of annual cooling and heating energy demands has an equally prominent role to play. These demands need to be assessed and benchmarked in order that reduction targets can be set. Saudi Arabia presents its own unique context and local conditions, which creates a challenge when utilizing generic frameworks for assessing the environmental impact of domestic buildings. In meeting this aim, this paper presents a resilience and environmental sustainability assessment framework (RESAF) developed specifically for domestic buildings in Saudi Arabia. RESAF helps designers/builders to minimize the carbon footprint of the building fabric and reduce in-use energy demands of domestic buildings in Saudi Arabia. This paper shows how this framework can be used to reduce, by approximately 23%, the carbon impact from construction materials, primarily by substituting a portion of cement for pulverized fly ash (PFA) or ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). A reduction of 19% in annual cooling and heating energy demand were additionally achieved throughout the building’s life, simply by increasing insulation and using triple-glazed windows. The importance of passing these alternative solutions through the resilience filter is highlighted, not least questioning whether they are really fit-for-purpose.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6473
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Elshaer ◽  
Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih ◽  
Mansour Alyahya ◽  
Ahmed Abu Elnasr

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is among the top food-wasting countries worldwide, despite it being considered a religious society. Hence, an important question has emerged “to what extent and by what mechanism can religiosity influence food waste intention?”. This research answers this research question and examines the direct impact of both religiosity and food consumption culture on food waste intention as well as the indirect impact through the constructs of theory of planned behavior. For this purpose, a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was collected from 1135 restaurant customers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) using Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) showed a very weak negative influence of religiosity on food waste intention. However, food consumption culture has had a high positive significant influence on food waste intention. The results also showed that attitude towards behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control fully mediate the relationship between religiosity and food waste intention. On the other side, they were found to partially mediate the relationship between food consumption culture and food waste intention. The results have several implications for policy-makers, scholars, and restaurant practitioners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Normah Abdul Latip ◽  
Mastura Jaafar ◽  
Azizan Marzuki ◽  
Kamand Mohammadzadeh Roufechaei ◽  
Mohd Umzarulazijo Umar ◽  
...  

Tourism contributes to the conservation and protection of mountainous areas, and even the characteristics and activities of tourism also affect the environmental sustainability of an area. This study aims to identify tourist characteristics, their opinion towards a sustainable environment, their activities conducted at the park and environmental impacts. Overall, 383 respondents agreed to participate, and the response has been analysed using the relative importance’s of these activities, and environmental impacts were quantified by the relative importance index method. Most of them visited Mount Kinabalu to experience natural sightseeing and hiking activity. Majority of them know environmental concern but feeling that KNP is rather crowded. Overall, the most popular activities were mount climbing and wildlife sightseeing by domestic and international tourist. The result of the study also has shown that noise and air pollution were ranked as the most important environmental impacts factors. Considering mountain tourism is an attraction and contributor to the economy of Sabah, there must be effective preventive measures. Because of that, planning, implementing and strengthening new policies and rules for tourist activities regarding the conservation and protection will help to minimize the impacts of tourism. Through the results of the study using the Relative Importance Index (RII) analysis, it is hoped that it will be able to help provide suggestions and solutions to balance the impacts of tourism in Mount Kinabalu towards sustainability.


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