IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i11p4089-d181258.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Practical Comparison of Regionalized Land Use and Biodiversity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Models Using Livestock Production as a Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Ricardo F. M. Teixeira

    (MARETEC—Marine, Environment and Technology Centre, LARSyS, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-001 Lisboa, Portugal)

  • Tiago G. Morais

    (MARETEC—Marine, Environment and Technology Centre, LARSyS, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-001 Lisboa, Portugal)

  • Tiago Domingos

    (MARETEC—Marine, Environment and Technology Centre, LARSyS, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-001 Lisboa, Portugal)

Abstract

Land use is increasingly important for impact assessment in life cycle assessment (LCA). Its impacts on biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services are crucial to depict the environmental performance of products. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) models are commonly selected by consensus through processes frequently misinformed by the absence of practical application studies. Here, we performed an assessment of all free and peer-reviewed LCIA models for land use. We started with spatial correlation analysis at the country scale. Models that use the same indicators are strongly correlated, suggesting that regionalization is no longer a decisive issue in model selection. We applied these models in a case study for cattle production where feeds are replaced by sown biodiverse pastures (SBP). We tested (1) a non-regionalized inventory from an LCA database and, (2) a regionalized inventory that explicit considered the locations of land occupation and transformation. We found the same qualitative result: the installation of SBP avoids impacts due to feed substitution. Each hectare of SBP installed avoids the occupation of 0.5 hectares per year for feed ingredient production. Adding inventory regionalization for 70% of land use flows leads to a change of 15% in results, suggesting limited spatial differentiation between country-level characterization factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Tiago G. Morais & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "A Practical Comparison of Regionalized Land Use and Biodiversity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Models Using Livestock Production as a Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4089-:d:181258
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4089/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4089/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "The Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ecological Intensification of Meat Production with Rainfed Sown Biodiverse Pastures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Ricardo Teixeira & Sara Pax, 2011. "A Survey of Life Cycle Assessment Practitioners with a Focus on the Agri‐Food Sector," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(6), pages 817-820, December.
    3. Ricardo F.M. Teixeira, 2015. "Critical Appraisal of Life Cycle Impact Assessment Databases for Agri-food Materials," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(1), pages 38-50, February.
    4. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Nuno R. Rodrigues & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "Carbon Footprint of Milk from Pasture-Based Dairy Farms in Azores, Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Nuno R. Rodrigues & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "Characterizing Livestock Production in Portuguese Sown Rainfed Grasslands: Applying the Inverse Approach to a Process-Based Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Nuno R. Rodrigues & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "Carbon Footprint of Milk from Pasture-Based Dairy Farms in Azores, Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    3. Stephanie D. Maier & Jan Paul Lindner & Javier Francisco, 2019. "Conceptual Framework for Biodiversity Assessments in Global Value Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-34, March.
    4. Ricardo F.M. Teixeira & Lúcia Barão & Tiago G. Morais & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "“BalSim”: A Carbon, Nitrogen and Greenhouse Gas Mass Balance Model for Pastures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "The Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ecological Intensification of Meat Production with Rainfed Sown Biodiverse Pastures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, November.
    6. Ricardo F.M. Teixeira & Tiago Domingos, 2019. "Current Practice and Future Perspectives for Livestock Production and Industrial Ecology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-5, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ricardo F.M. Teixeira & Tiago Domingos, 2019. "Current Practice and Future Perspectives for Livestock Production and Industrial Ecology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-5, August.
    2. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "The Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ecological Intensification of Meat Production with Rainfed Sown Biodiverse Pastures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, November.
    3. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Nuno R. Rodrigues & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "Characterizing Livestock Production in Portuguese Sown Rainfed Grasslands: Applying the Inverse Approach to a Process-Based Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Marques, Gonçalo M. & Teixeira, Carlos M.G.L. & Sousa, Tânia & Morais, Tiago G. & Teixeira, Ricardo F.M. & Domingos, Tiago, 2020. "Minimizing direct greenhouse gas emissions in livestock production: The need for a metabolic theory," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 434(C).
    5. Ricardo F.M. Teixeira & Lúcia Barão & Tiago G. Morais & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "“BalSim”: A Carbon, Nitrogen and Greenhouse Gas Mass Balance Model for Pastures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-26, December.
    6. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Nuno R. Rodrigues & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "Carbon Footprint of Milk from Pasture-Based Dairy Farms in Azores, Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    7. Piotr Bórawski & Adam Pawlewicz & Andrzej Parzonko & Jayson, K. Harper & Lisa Holden, 2020. "Factors Shaping Cow’s Milk Production in the EU," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, January.
    8. Hafiz Muhammad Abrar Ilyas & Majeed Safa & Alison Bailey & Sara Rauf & Marvin Pangborn, 2019. "The Carbon Footprint of Energy Consumption in Pastoral and Barn Dairy Farming Systems: A Case Study from Canterbury, New Zealand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-15, September.
    9. Vera B. Raposo & Luís Silva & Sílvia Quadros, 2022. "Azorean Vascular Plants with Potential Use in Constructed Wetlands with Horizontal Subsurface Flow," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4089-:d:181258. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.