Page 187 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

172 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT HANDBOOK

Finally, performing the impact assessment on the ecosystem relative to land
use requires a measure of the impact referring to a baseline land where a pre-
vious state of the land is considered. The choice of the baseline can greatly
influence the results of the LCA and therefore should be carefully chosen. For
example, in (Castanheira & Freire, 2010) a choice of baseline land use of for-
est versus degraded grassland, when considering land use change to palm oil
plantations, can lead from a reduction to a considerable increase in the impact
on the ecosystem. Similarly in (Peters, et ah 2010) when considering land use
issues due to meat production, the author points out that land use transfor-
mation may or may not have originated due to the grazing activities causing
baseline variability. Approaches used to define the baseline land can be found
in (Milä i Canals, et al 2007).
Table 7.1 is a non-exhaustive list of some of the recent work regarding LCA
of agri-food products with specific reference to land use and water use. A
comprehensive description of aspects regarding land use LCIA can be found
in (Schryver, et al. 2010). In summary, unresolved or not clearly defined meth-
odological issues arise when land use is considered in LCA because and of

Table 7.1 Summary of some recent work regarding land and water use related to
agri-food products.
Work Regarding Land and Aspects Covered
Water Use in Agri-Food Sector
(Mattsson, et al, 2000) Land use LCA of three vegetable oil crops

Regionalized impacts of energy crops - water
(Pfister,^fl/.,2010)
use and land use assessment
Study impacts of land use and land change,
(Castanheira & Freire, 2010)
palm oil plantations
Qualitative classification of water use Hybrid
(Peters, et al, 2010)
LCA of Australian red meat
Tea and margarine water use assessment using
(Jefferies,e£a/.,2010)
LCA and WF methodologies
Freshwater use impacts using LCA and WF
(Milä i Canals, et al, 2010) methodologies - broccoli grown in different
parts of Europe
Regionalized freshwater use impacts analysis of
(Pfister, et al, 2008)
fruit and vegetables
LCA Italian Beer Eco indicator 99 method
(Cordella, et al, 2008)
highlights the high impact of land use
LCA Meat and Dairy Products Considers
(Weidema, et al, 2008)
impact from simple land occupation