LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

KEYNOTE SESSION 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
26
Challenges for LCA in the agri-food sector, perspectives from
Thailand and Southeast Asia
Shabbir H. Gheewala 1,2
1 The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand
2 Center for Energy Technology and Environment, Ministry of Education, Thailand
E-mail: shabbir_g@jgsee.kmutt.ac.th
ABSTRACT
Agriculture and agri-food industries are very important sectors in many Asian countries, especially in Southeast Asia. Thailand, an
emerging economy, is a large producer and exporter of agri-food products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used increasingly
in the agriculture sector though much still remains to be done. This paper outlines the brief historical development of LCA in Thailand
focusing particularly on the agri-food sector. The development process and status are described pointing out also the areas that
need further development. Challenges for database development as well as methodology development are identified. The status of the
development of LCA in the agri-food sector in some other countries in the region is also summarised along with the development of a
regional initiative in this area.
Keywords: Agri-food, Database, LCA, Southeast Asia, Thailand
1. Introduction
Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been introduced to Thailand about 15 years ago (Lohsomboon, 2002);
though efforts towards its popularisation have gathered momentum in the last 7-8 years. In the interim period,
LCA has been taught in several universities in Thailand and numerous papers and research reports have
been published based on LCA studies in various sectors, particularly agriculture and energy (e.g. Mungkung
et al., 2006; Lebel et al., 2010, Nguyen and Gheewala, 2008a,b; Phumpradab et al., 2009; Suwanit and
Gheewala, 2011; Gheewala, 2011). Considering the large agricultural base of Thailand, the focus on studies
based on agriculture in not surprising. However, the data-intensive nature of LCAs and the lack of industry’s
understanding on the utility of such studies has been a barrier in large-scale implementation. The recent
popular appeal of product carbon footprinting has initiated a spate of studies and has curiously even encouraged
industries to take a fresh look at full LCAs (Mungkung et al., 2012).
The idea of life cycle concept was actually incorporated first in the Thai Green Label (Figure 1a) initiated
by the Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development (TBCSD) in 1993 and formally launched in
1994 by the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) in association with the Ministry of Industry
(http://www.tei.or.th/greenlabel/index.html). Though this is a Type I label which does not require conducting
a full LCA, the criteria are based on the life cycle idea. The first life cycle inventory of electricity was conducted
in 1997 by TEI and a graduate level course in LCA initiated in 1999. The Thai LCA Network linking
LCA practitioners was initiated in 2001. This paper briefly describes the activities in Thailand and the region
vis-à-vis LCA in the agri-food sector
2. LCA in the agri-food sector in Thailand
Activities on LCA in Thailand during the last decade have largely been dominated by individual research
projects and graduate studies. One of the first sectors that received attention was shrimp which was studied
first as a doctoral thesis and then as a national level project (Mungkung et al., 2006; Lebel et al., 2010). Several
doctoral theses were also conducted on biofuels that included agriculture as a very important part (e.g.
Nguyen, 2007; Yutthitham, 2009; Silalertruksa, 2010). Some of the studies also looked particularly at food
versus fuel issues because of the competition for feedstock and resources (Silalertruksa and Gheewala, 2010,
2011, 2012). Research projects were also conducted involving industries, particularly with the popularisation
of product carbon footprint (Mungkung et al., 2010; Mungkung et al., 2012). More recently, studies have
been initiated on water footprint which is a very important issue for agriculture (Nilsalab et al., 2012). Once
again these studies cover both work on the adaptation of methodology to the Thai context as well as research
projects with industrial partnership.
National level activities took an upward turn particularly with the initiation of the national life cycle inventory
(LCI) database in 2005 (http://www.thailcidatabase.net/). National database development was
broadly focused on six sectors: (1) Energy, utilities and transportation, (2) Industrial materials, (3) Agriculture,
(4) Commodity chemicals, (5) Building and construction materials and (6) Recycling and waste management.
This activity is being led and coordinated by the National Metal and Materials Technology Center
(MTEC) under the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Ministry of Science