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
National level product category rules (PCRs) 1 are also being developed for the agriculture sector including
fruit and vegetables, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture (Mungkung and Gheewala, 2012).
Along with the LCI database development and product carbon footprinting activities, several training
programs on LCA and carbon footprinting are being conducted throughout the country to develop human
capacity – researchers, consultants as well as companies are being trained. NSTDA has recently also commissioned
the author to develop a research capacity building program in LCA for a period of three years, the
focus being on human capacity development as well as producing papers in peer-reviewed international
journals. The program is also focused mainly on agriculture for food and fuel, especially related, though not
limited, to effects on climate change.
One of the major challenges being faced is the representativity of the agricultural databases as most crops
are produced by small-holders sometimes running into several thousands; cultivation practices, agricultural
inputs and yields can vary quite widely even between adjacent farms. Processors often source crops from
open markets with limited access to information on the actual cultivation sites. Another major issue is the
need for development of information on impact assessment especially vis-à-vis land use change and biodiversity.
At present, greenhouse gas emissions from land use change are usually estimated using default factors
from IPCC’s tier 1 method which are rather coarse; this can have a significant impact on the results
(Siangjaeo et al., 2011). Biodiversity is usually not even being assessed in most studies due to lack of reliable
information and assessment methods. These issues will be crucial particularly for sustainable production of
food and (bio)fuel with the likely increase of demands for both in the coming years.
3. LCA in the agri-food sector in the region
Apart from Thailand, several countries in the region have had some experience with LCA, some countries
more than others. Malaysia has recently done a national level study on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in
the palm oil sector (Choo et al., 2011), though there have been many other research studies (e.g. Yee et al.,
2009; Hassan et al., 2011; Hansen et al., 2012). An LCI database, MY-LCID, has also been developed at the
national level including the basic categories – energy carriers, materials (including agricultural production
means), systems and transport services. The MY-LCID includes 150 regionalised datasets (based on modelled
data) and more than 50 datasets based on actual production activities in the country (further information
can be obtained by writing to mylcid@sirim.my). LCA is being introduced in Indonesia too at the national
level particularly to support the government’s plan to reduce GHG emissions; though there have been individual
studies carried out by researchers (e.g. Kamahara et al., 2010; Harsono et al., 2012). Vietnam has yet
to start applying LCA at the national level, though there are some individual research studies reported in
literature (e.g. Phong et al., 2011).
With the objective to promote LCA in the agri-food sector at the regional level, developing regional collaboration
and developing an “Asian Food Database”, the LCA Agri-food Network has recently been initiated
(lca-agrifood-asia.org). One of the first activities was the organisation of the first regional workshop on
“LCA Agri-food Asia” in February 2012. The workshop was organised by Kasetsart University, the Joint
Graduate School of Energy and Environment, the Asian Institute of Technology and NSTDA of Thailand
along with the National Agriculture and Food Organisation (Agriculture Research Centre) and TCO2 company
of Japan. About 160 participants from 10 different countries attended the event. Experiences on LCA in
agri-food were shared from Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. Experiences from EU were
shared by invited experts from the University of Surrey, UK and the French Agricultural Research for Development
Centre (CIRAD). The event led to the development of the LCA Agri-food Asia Forum. The next
workshop is planned for 2013 in Indonesia.
4. Outlook for the future
By their very nature, LCAs stretch across the entire life cycle of products which in this age of globalisation
includes not only countries, but regions, continents or even the whole world. Data requirements are thus
not restricted to national boundaries. Developing national LCI databases is of course imperative, but not an
end in itself. As outlined in the previous section, many countries in Asia are taking the first baby steps towards
cooperation. The industrialised countries with more experience in developing databases as well as in
sharing data will need to be actively involved in capacity building efforts for both these aspects. A useful
effort is being coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2011); the current popularity
of carbon and water footprinting as well as environmental labelling in general, also provides a driving
1 PCRs are sets of specific rules, requirements and guidelines for developing Type III environmental declarations for one or more
product categories (BSI, 2008)
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