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
force. Development of standardised data formats (e.g. ILCD) is a major step in the right direction. Capacity
building of researchers, policy makers, and industry is another relevant step. Development of the national
LCI database requires much effort in engagement of industrial associations for participating in the data collection
efforts as well as to allay concerns of compromising confidentiality. Attempts at international collaboration
will exacerbate such concerns, especially vis-à-vis perceived impacts on international trade. These
issues will need to be urgently addressed to facilitate cooperation. It would be useful to learn from the experience
of national and international database efforts such as Agri-BALYSE (France), LCA food database
(Denmark), Ecoinvent, etc. on how they dealt with such issues. This would provide further directions for the
future.
5. Concluding remarks
LCA in the agri-food sector has been recently established very strongly in Thailand through various national
level initiatives such as the development of the LCI database and product carbon footprinting and labelling.
Of course much work still needs to be done on improving the quality, representativity and reliability
of the data; this will support the further application of LCA especially by the industries. LCA is also on the
rise in other countries in the region, though some countries are still far from realising its importance. Methodological
issues particularly pertaining to land use change and biodiversity need urgent attention. Efforts
are ongoing to disseminate knowledge and experience from Thailand to other countries which are still in the
initial stages of LCA development through the recently initiated LCA Agri-food network. Japan has played
an important role in partnering with Thailand in this effort as have other countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia
and Vietnam. European countries can also be interesting partners as they have much experience in developing
national and regional-level agriculture and food databases as well as assessment tools. These experiences
would be very useful for the emerging countries in Asia so that they can leapfrog the initial problems
that the developed countries must have faced while initiating their LCA activities in the agri-food sector. The
developed countries on the other hand can also learn about agriculture and food industries in Asia which will
be useful especially for the many environmental labelling efforts that are ongoing and where many of the
upstream process of agriculture and food processing are based in Asia. More engagement can also come
through joint efforts at networking; the LCA Agri-food Asia could also link up with existing networks
worldwide, such as inter alia UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, ENVIFOOD protocol and the Sustainability
Consortium, that have similar goals.
6. Acknowledgements
Dr. Thumrongrut Mungcharoen and Ms. Patcharaporn Pongpat of NSTDA, Thailand; Dr. Rattanawan
Mungkung of Kasetsart University, Thailand and Dr. Chen Sau Soon of SIRIM Berhad, Malaysia are acknowledged
for providing supporting information. Special thanks to Dr. Hayo van der Werf, French National
Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) for making useful suggestions on the paper. The opinions expressed
in this article and any errors are the sole responsibility of the author.
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