2021/02/24 by Van Der Werf, Hayo, Trydeman Knudsen, Marie, Cederberg, Christel
#Agroecology #Agroécologie #Analyse du cycle de vie #Biodiversity #Biodiversité #Dégradations de sols #Ecosystem services #Environmental impacts #Impacts environnementaux #Land degradation #Life cycle assessment #Pesticides #Services écosystémiques
paper · doi:10.15454/hwyc-yb48
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the method most widely used to assess environmental impacts of agricultural products. Current LCA methodology and studies tend to favour high-input intensive agricultural systems and misrepresent less intensive agroecological systems such as organic agriculture. This is due partly to LCA’s approach, which focuses on products, without considering other ecosystem services from agricultural systems, and partly because LCA rarely considers aspects that agroecology aims to improve (soil health, biodiversity status, pesticide use impacts). We identify three key areas (additional indicators, broader perspective, indirect effects) for which we propose recommendations for LCA practitioners and priorities for research