Deforestation and (indirect) land use change:
for a systematic approach in food industry
VINCENT ROSSI1, AN DE SCHRYVER1, SÉBASTIEN HUMBERT1
1QUANTIS,
PARC SCIENTIFIQUE EPFL, BÂT. D, 1015 LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND; CONTACT: SEBASTIEN.HUMBERT@QUANTIS-INTL.COM, +41-79-754-7566
CONTEXT
Deforestation and land degradation is a major cause of
environmental impacts
Land transformation from primary forest to crop or pasture land causes large
impacts regarding:
• Carbon release from soil and biomass
• Biodiversity loss
• Rainfall patterns disruption and water availability reduction
• Land degradation leading to further carbon release and fertility loss
Food sector plays an important role in land demand and
therefore in pressuring forested land
Food sector is a globally growing market, increasing land demand. Directly or
indirectly, any increase in food demand puts pressure on forested lands,
especially with deficient land management practices leading to land losses.
By 2050, food demand is expected to increase by 75% and cropland in
developing countries to increase by 120 million ha (FAO and NWF 2011).
Pictures: Mongabay.com
On one hectare used for food today, how many m2 were still forested one year ago?
METHODS
We try to statistically answer this question per country and per crop type based on
FAO data. Two major allocation approaches exist. Deforestation can be:
1) Evenly distributed on all crops or activities according to currently used area
2) Specifically allocated to growing crops or activities according to area increase
Allocation key and results are very sensitive to time horizon because of variation
of crop demand in time or because of data quality.
• PAS 2050 considers impacts from deforestation up to 20 years ago
250
Area deforested every year on one hectare used for food
production today: Brazil
200
500
150
100
50
0
Green
coffee
Sugarcane Palm nut
Potato
Sorgho
Meadows Other land
and
pastures
• Trends can be evaluated on different time horizons
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Deforestation emissions according to standard method
Greenhouse gas emissions based on Müller-Wenk 2010 and IPCC 2007, time
allocated according to PAS 2050.
Even
distribution
Area deforested in m2 per year and per ha used today
On one hectare used for food today, how many m2 were still forested one year ago?
300
Area deforested in m2 per year and per ha used today
Indirect deforestation: mostly an allocation issue
Area deforested every year on one hectare used for food
production today: Colombia
Wheat
Green
coffee
Sugarcane
Maize
Palm kernel Soy beans Meadows Other land
and
pastures
Even
distribution
Note: due to lack of detailed data, FAO category “Other land” contains degraded land left by crops or activities that are
displaced geographically without increase in area (Barona 2010).
How important is the hidden impact of deforestation?
RESULTS
5
Examples beside are given with indicative figures
4.5
• Green coffee in Colombia: specific growth of coffee crops is larger than the
even average agricultural growth
 A large part of the impacts are ignored when not considering
deforestation
Repercussions on non-renewable primary energy and on biodiversity are not
shown here.
Impacts would be larger if moving crops or activities could be identified and
allocated instead of being referred to as “other land”.
Under development:
• Consequences on rainfall to be included in water impact assessment (Aragao
2012, Spracklen 2012)
• Crops that degrade land more rapidly than others to be differentiated
(Desjardins 2004)
CONCLUSIONS
3.5
Impact on Climate Change
kg CO2-eq/kg of product
• Raw milk in Brazil: two activities contribute to deforestation: soy crops (cow
feed) and pasture land; specific growth of soy crops is larger than the even
average agricultural growth; this is the opposite for pasture land
4
3
Deforestation, even
allocation
2.5
Pasture
land
2
1.5
Deforestation, specific
allocation
Soy
cultivation
1
Cultivation and other
stages
0.5
0
Specific
Even
Green coffee, Colombia
Specific
Even
Raw milk, Brazil
RECOMMENDATIONS
This poster does not advocate for a specific allocation methodology but for the
importance of considering deforestation in food LCA.
Deforestation must be taken into account in the food sector.
Without deforestation, a large part of the impacts are missed.
Sensitivity analysis is necessary because of lack of a standard method and of
uncertainty.
Standard LCI for deforestation is available, but LCIA must be improved beyond
GHG to include primary energy, biodiversity loss and indirect water footprint.
The views expressed in this poster are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of authors quoted as reference.
It is critical to agree on a standard allocation of deforested area method among crops or
activities, including the land degradation speed related to them.
Quantis is building a World Food Life Cycle DataBase including deforestation.