Integrating agri-environmental indicators, ecosystem services assessment, life cycle assessment and yield gap analysis to assess the environmental sustainability of agriculture

Ecological Indicators

A. Béthinger¹  P. Reidsma²  J.-E. Bergez³  N. Guilpart⁴  O. Therond⁵  C. Bockstaller⁵  E. Ceschia⁶  F. Müller⁷  C. Riviere⁷  C. Schader⁸  H.M.G. van der Werf⁹  S. Lange^1,10  C. Cederberg^1,11 

[1] Corresponding author.;Leibniz University Hannover, Institute of Physical Geography and Landscape Ecology, Schneiderberg 50, 30167 Hannover, Germany;AGIR, INRAE, Université de Toulouse, F-31320 Castanet-Tolosan, France;CESBIO, Université de Toulouse, CNES/CNRS/INRA/IRD/UPS, Toulouse, France;DEPE, INRAE, Paris, France;Division of Physical Resource Theory, Dept. Of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden;Institute for Natural Resource Conservation, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 75, D 24118 Kiel, Germany;Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, the Netherlands;Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland;Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, INRAE, UMR Agronomie, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France;Université de Lorraine, INRAE, LAE, F-68000 Colmar, France;

关键词: Multi-criteria assessment;    Environmental issues;    Environmental policies;    Conceptual framework;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Agriculture’s primary function is the production of food, feed, fibre and fuel for the fast-growing world population. However, it also affects human health and ecosystem integrity. Policymakers make policies in order to avoid harmful impacts. How to assess such policies is a challenge. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework to help evaluate the impacts of agricultural policies on the environment. Our framework represents the global system as four subsystems and their interactions. These four components are the cells of a 2 by 2 matrix [Agriculture, Rest of the word]; [Socio-eco system, Ecological system]. We then developed a set of indicators for environmental issues and positioned these issues in the framework. To assess these issues, we used four well-known existing approaches: Life Cycle Assessment, Ecosystem Services Analysis, Yield Gap Analysis and Agro-Environmental Indicators. Using these four approaches together provided a more holistic view of the impacts of a given policy on the system. We then applied our framework on existing cover crop policies using an extensive literature survey and analysing the different environmental issues mobilised by the four assessment approaches. This demonstration case shows that our framework may be of help for a full systemic assessment. Despite their differences (aims, scales, standardization, data requirements, etc.), it is possible and profitable to use the four approaches together. This is a significant step forward, though more work is needed to produce a genuinely operational tool.

【 授权许可】

Unknown