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

GROUP 2, SESSION A: CARBON OR WATER FOOTPRINTS, SOIL, BIODIVERSITY 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Group 2, Session A : Carbon or Water Footprints, Soil, Biodiversity
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
39. The assessment of biodiversity within UK farming systems using
an extended LCA ecosystem approach
Catherine Keeling, Rob Lillywhite *
School of Life Sciences, The University of Warwick, UK,
robert.lillywhite@warwick.ac.uk
Corresponding author. E-mail:
In 2009, the UK Government commissioned a three-year project to develop a methodology to assess the
economic, environmental and social characteristics of UK farming systems. Thirty-two farming systems
were identified to represent the diversity of UK agriculture and forty indicators were described to cover a
wide range of economic, environmental and social parameters. The methodology uses a development of the
existing Cranfield LCA model (Williams et al., 2007) combined with newly developed economic and social
matrices. A matrix was constructed to accommodate the data generated by the 1280 farming system/characteristic
combinations. The matrix uses both actual and normalised values to investigate the advantages
and disadvantages that accrue from different farming systems. This overall approach is described as an
extended LCA ecosystem approach model. This paper reports on the inclusion of an aggregated biodiversity
indicator into the methodology.
One major difficulty in representing biodiversity is the definition and subsequent calculation of single or
multiple indicators. Single indicator species groups such as birds or carabids may be used, but effects of
management practices have been shown to be specific to the different indicator groups (Jeanneret et al.,
2008). Meta-analyses have investigated the dose-effect relationships between pressure factors and biodiversity
in agricultural landscapes (Reidsma et al., 2006; Alkemade et al., 2009). Following on from this work,
ecosystem quality values (defined as the mean species abundance relative to the undisturbed situation) were
assigned to each combination of land-use type, intensity level, and type of management (organic and nonorganic).
Using data from the UK’s Farm Business Survey, an estimation of the remaining ecosystem quality
of each farming system could then be made.
Highest ecosystem quality values were associated with the grass-based, low intensity systems, whilst the
lowest scores were obtained by the most intensively housed livestock systems. Within production systems,
the indicator was capable of differentiating between different types of management. For example, within pig
production, outdoor bred/indoor finished systems scored higher than permanently housed systems. This
methodology can be used to examine how changes in the farming landscape would affect levels of biodiversity;
whether through land-use change, such as the conversion of grassland to arable land, through intensification,
or through conversion to organic production.
References
Alkemade, R., van Oorschot, M., Miles., L. Nellemann, C., Bakkenes, M., ten Brink, B., 2009. GLOBIO3:
A framework to investigate options for reducing global terrestrial biodiversity loss. Ecosystems 12, 374-
390.
Jeanneret, P., Baumgartner, D. U., Freiermuth Knuchel, R., Gaillard, G., 2008. A new LCIA method for
assessing impacts of agricultural activities on biodiversity (SALCA-Biodiversity). 6 th International Conference
on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector 2008, Proceedings, 34-39.
Reidsma, P., Tekelenburg, T., van den Berg., M., Alkemade, R., 2006. Impacts of land-use change on biodiversity:
an assessment of agricultural biodiversity in the European Union. Agriculture, Ecosystems and
Environment 114, 86-102.
Willams, A.G., Audsley, E., Sandars, D.L. 2006. Determining the environmental burdens ands resource use
in the production of agricultural and horticultural commodities. Final report for Defra project IS0205.
Cranfield University, Bedford and Defra, London.
711