Nicoletta Patrizi

Accounting for “land-grabbing” from a biocapacity viewpoint

The comparison of the Ecological Footprint and its counterpart (i.e. biocapacity) allow for a classification of the worlds countries as ecological creditors (Ecological Footprint lower than biocapacity) or debtors (Ecological Footprint higher than biocapacity). This classification is a national scale assessment on an annual time scale that provides a view of the ecological assets appropriated by the local population versus the natural ecological endowment of a country. We show that GDP per capita over a certain threshold is related with the worsening of the footprint balance in countries classified as ecological debtors. On the other hand, this correlation is lost when ecological creditor nations are considered. There is evidence that governments and investors from high GDP countries are playing a crucial role in impacting the environment at the global scale which is significantly affecting the geography of sustainability and preventing equal opportunities for development. In particular, international market dynamics and the concentration of economic power facilitate the transfer of biocapacity related to “land grabbing”, i.e. large scale acquisition of agricultural land. This transfer mainly occurs from low to high GDP countries, regardless of the actual need of foreign biocapacity, as expressed by the national footprint balance. A first estimation of the amount of biocapacity involved in this phenomenon is provided in this paper in order to better understand its implications on global sustainability and national and international land use policy.

Sustainability of agro-livestock integration: Implications and results of Emergy evaluation

This study aims to assess the sustainability of an agroforestry system: i.e. a system obtained by the union of two productions to get at least two by-products from the same productive space. In particular, this case study presents the integration of a goose raising system with an organic grape production, from an environmental point of view. This integration is mainly designed to have two simultaneous co-products (grape and goose meat) with: i) a less intensive use of machineries for weeding and ii) avoiding use of chemical fertilizers and weeding. The sustainability is assessed by means of emergy evaluation. Emergy is a thermodynamic based tool able to estimates the environmental cost of products and services in terms of the solar energy (directly and indirectly) required for its production. As Emergy is not a state function, its final value depends on the way the product is made. The set theory applied to the emergy evaluation enables the comparison between the integrated system and the originating isolated systems in a proper way. Results confirm that the integrated system enables a saving, in emergy terms, amounting to 33% compared to the two originating isolated production systems. Emergy evaluation is able to keep track of the lower amount of resources required from outside the agroforestry system due to the optimization of resources internally available.

Emergy Evaluation and Life Cycle Assessment of a Second Generation Bioethanol Production

Bioethanol is obtained from various raw biomasses and by means of optimized process technologies. It can be a substitute for gasoline, which implies greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. The type of feedstock determines the classification of bioethanol: first generation (starch-based biomass or simple sugar-based feedstock) and second generation (lignocellulosic material as straw and wood). Second generation bioethanol production requires cellulosic biomass, which overcome the problems of first generation like food competition and low efficacy in GHG emission reduction. Sustainability evaluations of (first and second generation) bioethanol production have been proposed in the past by means of systemic indicators like emergy analysis and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). A joint use of emergy and LCA of a possible implementation of a second generation bioethanol production chain is presented in this study. The emergy methodology has been used to test the physical consistency of the investment required to implement the production process, as well as the benefit of the biofuel-gasoline substitution. The effect of this substitution has been also evaluated by including the LCA of this production chain within the GHG balance of the Province of Siena.