Page 117 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 99

impact of human activities on global ecosystem integrity and ecosystem ser-
vices sustainability certainly answer an increasing interest among a variety of
stakeholders along the production and consumption value chain, looking at
a comprehensive view of the direct and indirect impacts generated by their
product and services both for humans and ecosystems.

4.7.6 Expanding Land Use Burdens on Biodiversity in Ecosystem
Services
Regarding biodiversity, impacts solely related to terrestrial biodiversity (PDF.
2
m .year) have been implemented in LCIA methodologies. They are too restric-
tive on their spatial coverage in that they are generally limited to the European
continent and fail to address particular ecosystems when it comes to other
countries. Or, they are too restrictive in the impact pathways they cover. In
order to fill in methodological gaps and to answer the need for integrating and
harmonizing impact indicators as extensively justified in the literature (Müller-
Wenk 1998; Lindeijer, Müller-Wenk et al 2002; Milä i Canals, Bauer et al 2007) a
working group within the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative (LULCIA) pro-
pose a guideline to build methods for land use impact assessment (Koellner
et al 2012) refining the principles that have already been proposed by others
(Mila i Canals, Bauer et al 2007) who recommend model developers address
the calculation of land use interventions and land use impacts, the issue of
impact reversibility, the spatial and temporal distribution of such impacts, and
the assessment of absolute or relative ecosystem quality changes.
This method relates land use to six new indicators in addition to biodiversity:
biotic production (BPP), erosion regulation (ERP), freshwater regulation (FWRP),
mechanical and physicochemical water purification (MWPP and PCWPP), and
carbon sequestration (CSP) potentials, which represent provision and regulation
ecosystem services, as defined in the Millennium Assessment (MA 2005). These
indicators of land use impacts are calculated as the product of surface occupied
(or transformed), occupation (or transformation) time, and a parameter describ-
ing the land quality (or ecosystem functionality) loss. It is noteworthy that the
ecosystem services approach adopted for land use impact assessment is quite
similar to the functional equivalency approach adopted for water use.

References

Bare, J., Hofstetter, P., et al (2000). "Life Cycle Impact Assessment Workshop Summary -
Midpoints versus Endpoints: The Sacrifices and Benefits." International Journal of Life Cycle
Assessment 5(6): 318-326.
Bare, J.C., Norris, G.A., et al (2003). "TRACI: The Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of
Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts." Journal of Industrial Ecology 6(3-4): 49-78.
Bare, J.C. and Gloria, T.R (2006). "Critical analysis of the mathematical relationships and compre-
hensiveness of life cycle impact assessment approaches." Environmental Science & Technology
40(4): 1104-1113.