Quantifying the global cropland footprint of the European Union’s non-food bioeconomy
| Autor: | Sylvia Tramberend, Tiina Häyhä, Victor Maus, Stefan Giljum, Günther Fischer, Martin Bruckner, Jan Börner |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Land footprint 105904 Environmental research Natural resource economics Supply chain 401905 Nachwachsende Rohstoffe 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences 7. Clean energy 12. Responsible consumption bioeconomy land footprint non-food products multi-regional input-output analysis hybrid land flow accounting European Union 405004 Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft 11. Sustainability 107004 Humanökologie 401905 Renewable resources 502022 Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften media_common.cataloged_instance 405004 Sustainable agriculture Agricultural productivity European union 502022 Sustainable economics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences General Environmental Science media_common 2. Zero hunger Sustainable development Land use 502042 Umweltökonomie Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment business.industry 107004 Human ecology 502042 Environmental economics Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health 15. Life on land Product (business) 13. Climate action Agriculture 201128 Sustainable building 105904 Umweltforschung business 201128 Nachhaltiges Bauen |
| Zdroj: | Environmental Research Letters |
| ISSN: | 1748-9326 |
| DOI: | 10.1088/1748-9326/ab07f5 |
| Popis: | A rapidly growing share of global agricultural areas is devoted to the production of biomass for non-food purposes. The expanding non-food bioeconomy can have far-reaching social and ecological implications; yet, the non-food sector has attained little attention in land footprint studies. This paper provides the first assessment of the global cropland footprint of non-food products of the European Union (EU), a globally important region regarding its expanding bio-based economy. We apply a novel hybrid land flow accounting model, combining the biophysical trade model LANDFLOW with the multi-regional input–output model EXIOBASE. The developed hybrid approach improves the level of product and country detail, while comprehensively covering all global supply chains from agricultural production to final consumption, including highly processed products, such as many non-food products. The results highlight the EU's role as a major processing and the biggest consuming region of cropland-based non-food products, while at the same time relying heavily on imports. Two thirds of the cropland required to satisfy the EU's non-food biomass consumption are located in other world regions, particularly in China, the US and Indonesia, giving rise to potential impacts on distant ecosystems. With almost 39% in 2010, oilseeds used to produce for example biofuels, detergents and polymers represented the dominant share of the EU's non-food cropland demand. Traditional non-food biomass uses, such as fibre crops for textiles and animal hides and skins for leather products, also contributed notably (22%). Our findings suggest that if the EU Bioeconomy Strategy is to support global sustainable development, a detailed monitoring of land use displacement and spillover effects is decisive for targeted and effective EU policy making. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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