How do we establish life cycle assessment methods to assess the impact of agricultural production on soil functions?

Eady Sandra, Bessou Cécile, Sala Serenella, Grant Tim. 2016. How do we establish life cycle assessment methods to assess the impact of agricultural production on soil functions?. In : LCA Food 2016. Dublin : s.n., 1-8. LCA Food 2016: 10th International conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food. 10, Dublin, Irlande, 19 Octobre 2016/21 Octobre 2016.

Note générale : Cécile Bessou est l'expert invité du Cirad

Résumé : Soil quality attributes, and their contribution to soil function, are inherently linked to agricultural productivity, and the longterm sustainability of agriculture relies on protecting and improving our soils. The influence of soil quality on productivity and ecosystem services has been under-represented in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to date. Recent efforts by the UNEPSETAC Life Cycle Initiative and the European Commission JRC have devised impact assessment frameworks that capture the ecosystem service functions of land, including soil functions. However, there is still ambiguity over the terms used to describe soil processes, elementary flows, and impact indicators. This paper explores important soil processes, identifies how elementary flows can be estimated, and explores how different aspects of soil quality can be characterised to give an integrated assessment of impact. In doing this, we define the language and terms used in the impact pathway that will help delineate inventory development from development of impact assessment methods. We discuss how the tools now available, through the growth of GIS data on land use, soils, and climate, open up the opportunity to parametrise LCI directly with the relevant elementary flows and construct LCIA methods, so that they are matched to real production systems.

Mots-clés libres : LCA, Soil quality

Classification Agris : P33 - Chimie et physique du sol
P35 - Fertilité du sol
A01 - Agriculture - Considérations générales
P01 - Conservation de la nature et ressources foncières

Auteurs et affiliations

• Eady Sandra, CSIRO (AUS)
• Bessou Cécile, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR Systèmes de pérennes (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0001-6686-8468
• Sala Serenella, European Commission-Joint Research Centre (ITA)
• Grant Tim, Life Cycle Strategies (AUS)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/584848/)

Métriques

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