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Coudard A, Sun Z, Behrens P, Mogollón JM. The Global Environmental Benefits of Halving Avoidable Consumer Food Waste. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024; 58:13707-13716. [PMID: 39072396 PMCID: PMC11308518 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c04140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2024] [Revised: 07/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/15/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Avoidable consumer food waste (ACFW) is a global environmental issue wasting key resources and causing emissions, especially in high food-producing nations. We trace ACFW to its origin to assess emissions, water use, and land use. We show that ACFW impacts are dominated by commodities like beef, dairy, rice, and wheat. Over 80% of impacts are domestic, but impacts embodied in trade affect a few major food-producing countries under environmental pressure. A 50% reduction in ACFW could save up to 198 Mt CO2eq in emissions, 30 Gm3 of blue water, and 99 Mha of land. Targeting key commodities in impactful countries (e.g., US beef waste) could achieve significant benefits. Sparing wasted land and returning it to its potential natural vegetation could sequester 26 Gt CO2eq long-term (17-35 Gt CO2eq). Finally, while the 50% ACFW reduction lines up with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3b for the avoidable portion of food waste, a total of 276 Mt of unavoidable consumer food waste is also generated, which cannot be readily reduced. Achieving a 50% reduction in total food waste would require a 93% reduction in ACFW. Tracking the spatial impacts of ACFW can elucidate the concrete benefits of policies aiming at SDG 12.3b.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Coudard
- Institute
of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, PO Box 9518, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands
- Metabolic
Institute, Klimopweg
150, Amsterdam 1032 HX, The Netherlands
| | - Zhongxiao Sun
- College
of Land Science and Technology, China Agriculture
University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Paul Behrens
- Institute
of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, PO Box 9518, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands
| | - José Manuel Mogollón
- Institute
of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, PO Box 9518, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands
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2
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Meyfroidt P, Abeygunawardane D, Baumann M, Bey A, Buchadas A, Chiarella C, Junquera V, Kronenburg García A, Kuemmerle T, le Polain de Waroux Y, Oliveira E, Picoli M, Qin S, Rodriguez García V, Rufin P. Explaining the emergence of land-use frontiers. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:240295. [PMID: 39021768 PMCID: PMC11251776 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2024] [Revised: 06/03/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Land-use expansion is linked to major sustainability concerns including climate change, food security and biodiversity loss. This expansion is largely concentrated in so-called 'frontiers', defined here as places experiencing marked transformations owing to rapid resource exploitation. Understanding the mechanisms shaping these frontiers is crucial for sustainability. Previous work focused mainly on explaining how active frontiers advance, in particular, into tropical forests. Comparatively, our understanding of how frontiers emerge in territories considered marginal in terms of agricultural productivity and global market integration remains weak. We synthesize conceptual tools explaining resource and land-use frontiers, including theories of land rent and agglomeration economies, of frontiers as successive waves, spaces of territorialization, friction and opportunities, anticipation and expectation. We then propose a new theory of frontier emergence, which identifies exogenous pushes, legacies of past waves and actors' anticipations as key mechanisms by which frontiers emerge. Processes of differential rent creation and capture and the built-up of agglomeration economies then constitute key mechanisms sustaining active frontiers. Finally, we discuss five implications for the governance of frontiers for sustainability. Our theory focuses on agriculture and deforestation frontiers in the tropics but can be inspirational for other frontier processes including for extractive resources, such as minerals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Meyfroidt
- Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve1348, Belgium
- F.R.S. - FNRS, Brussels1000, Belgium
| | - Dilini Abeygunawardane
- Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve1348, Belgium
- Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Theodor-Lieser-Str. 2, Halle06120, Germany
| | - Matthias Baumann
- Geography Department, Humboldt-University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin10099, Germany
| | - Adia Bey
- Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve1348, Belgium
| | - Ana Buchadas
- Geography Department, Humboldt-University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin10099, Germany
- Integrated Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Humboldt-University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin, Germany
| | - Cristina Chiarella
- Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve1348, Belgium
- International Fund for Agricultural Development - IFAD, Rome00142, Italy
| | - Victoria Junquera
- High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Angela Kronenburg García
- Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve1348, Belgium
- F.R.S. - FNRS, Brussels1000, Belgium
| | - Tobias Kuemmerle
- Geography Department, Humboldt-University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin10099, Germany
- Integrated Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Humboldt-University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin, Germany
| | - Yann le Polain de Waroux
- Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Eduardo Oliveira
- Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Mechelen2800, Belgium
| | - Michelle Picoli
- Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve1348, Belgium
- WeForest, Cantersteen 47, Brussels1000, Belgium
| | - Siyu Qin
- The Nature Conservancy, Berlin10117, Germany
| | | | - Philippe Rufin
- Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve1348, Belgium
- Geography Department, Humboldt-University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin10099, Germany
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Wang X, Qiang W, Liu X, Yan S, Qi Y, Jia Z, Liu G. The spatiotemporal patterns and network characteristics of emissions embodied in the international trade of livestock products. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022; 322:116128. [PMID: 36067668 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Livestock production is greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensive, and thus the increasing international trade of livestock products in recent decades has resulted in increased embodied emissions. Considering the varying emission intensity in production in different countries and the expected further increase in livestock product trade in the future, it becomes crucial to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of such embodied GHG emissions for climate change mitigation in the livestock sector. In this study, we aimed to address such gaps and analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns and network characteristics of GHG emissions embodied in the international trade of seven major categories of livestock products among 228 world economies during 1986-2017. The results showed that the total volume of GHG emissions embodied in livestock product trade reached 92.0 MT in 2017, accounting for 2.6% of the total emissions from livestock production. Sheep meat has replaced cattle meat as the major contributor to embodied emissions. In 2017, the largest flows of embodied emissions were within Europe, followed by the flows from Oceania to Asia. The fluxes in intra-upper middle and intra-high-income economies accounted for most of the total embodied emissions. Although the global average emission intensity of livestock production declined in these four decades, the trade flows from high to low emission intensity economies increased, especially for cattle and sheep meat. This resulted in an overall increase of contribution from the global livestock trade in GHG emissions from the global livestock sector. Therefore, effective measures and policies must be designed from both consumption and production perspectives to ensure proper accounting of these embodied emissions and maximize the reduction potential for a sustainable food system transition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Wang
- College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China; College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China
| | - Wenli Qiang
- College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
| | - Xiaojie Liu
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
| | - Simin Yan
- Institute of Geography, Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Yumei Qi
- College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Zhuo Jia
- College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Gang Liu
- SDU Life Cycle Engineering, Department of Green Technology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, 5230, Denmark
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Adjusting agricultural emissions for trade matters for climate change mitigation. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3024. [PMID: 35680858 PMCID: PMC9184627 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30607-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in food systems is becoming more challenging as food is increasingly consumed away from producer regions, highlighting the need to consider emissions embodied in trade in agricultural emissions accounting. To address this, our study explores recent trends in trade-adjusted agricultural emissions of food items at the global, regional, and national levels. We find that emissions are largely dependent on a country’s consumption patterns and their agricultural emission intensities relative to their trading partners’. The absolute differences between the production-based and trade-adjusted emissions accounting approaches are especially apparent for major agricultural exporters and importers and where large shares of emission-intensive items such as ruminant meat, milk products and rice are involved. In relative terms, some low-income and emerging and developing economies with consumption of high emission intensity food products show large differences between approaches. Similar trends are also found under various specifications that account for trade and re-exports differently. These findings could serve as an important element towards constructing national emissions reduction targets that consider trading partners, leading to more effective emissions reductions overall. Understanding emissions flow with trade matters for climate action. Trade-adjusted emission accounting would close the carbon loophole generated by trade for more effective climate action targeted at producers, consumers, and intermediary traders
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Almadani MI, Weeks P, Deblitz C. Introducing the World's First Global Producer Price Indices for Beef Cattle and Sheep. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11082314. [PMID: 34438771 PMCID: PMC8388369 DOI: 10.3390/ani11082314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Global finished cattle and sheep production and prices are becoming increasingly volatile due to various demand, supply, animal disease, and environmental factors. With beef and sheep production systems being globally connected, an approach monitoring the developments of global meat prices as received by producers becomes increasingly important. This paper presents four global price indices for beef and sheep meat based on prices received by livestock producers obtained from 33 beef and 20 sheep producing countries. These indices are: finished cattle, weaner cattle and lambs producer price indices, as well as a lambs and sheep producer price index—all using an internationally standardized approach. These global indices and associated country and regional indices are used to monitor and explain developments in global beef cattle, lambs, and sheep prices over the index period 2000–2019. The global farmgate cattle and sheep prices have been mainly impacted by developments in global supply and demand, as well as changes in international market access. However, factors which are more local in nature, such as droughts, diseases, local economic developments, exchange rates and policy interventions, have also had a considerable impact on price developments. Abstract While international beef and sheep meat price developments are usually measured with meat trade prices (provided by FAO), no comparable information exists on world average of national prices that producers receive for livestock. This paper aims to fill this gap by introducing a set of global producer price indices representing cattle, lambs, and sheep prices as received by producers: the agri benchmark of weaner cattle, finished cattle, lambs and lambs and sheep price indices. These Laspeyres, production-weighted indices measure changes in global farm gate prices as provided annually by the agri benchmark Beef and Sheep Network, with this paper covering prices between 2000 and 2019. The results showed that growing Asian imports, local economic developments in South America, the interconnection with the dairy sector in Europe, growth of beef consumption in China and exchange rates shifts are the key factors that drove developments of global beef producer prices over the past 20 years. Droughts in Oceania and the rapid rise in China’s sheep meat prices are highly reflected in the Global Lambs and Lambs and Sheep Meat Price indices. The indices indicate whether cattle and sheep producers globally are receiving more, or less, for the commodity and may increase or reduce production and investment accordingly. This will be of more use if there were similar producer price indices for competing enterprises, such as dairy and cropping, and for competing proteins, such as pigs, poultry, and fish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad Isam Almadani
- Thünen Institute of Farm Economics, Bundesallee 63, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-531-596-5159
| | - Peter Weeks
- Weeks Consulting Services Pty Ltd., St Ives, Sydney, NSW 2075, Australia;
| | - Claus Deblitz
- Thünen Institute of Farm Economics, Bundesallee 63, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany;
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Baumann M, Kamp J, Pötzschner F, Bleyhl B, Dara A, Hankerson B, Prishchepov AV, Schierhorn F, Müller D, Hölzel N, Krämer R, Urazaliyev R, Kuemmerle T. Declining human pressure and opportunities for rewilding in the steppes of Eurasia. DIVERS DISTRIB 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Baumann
- Geography Department Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
| | - Johannes Kamp
- Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group Institute of Landscape Ecology University of Münster Münster Germany
| | | | - Benjamin Bleyhl
- Geography Department Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
- Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human‐Environment Systems (IRI THESys) Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
| | - Andrey Dara
- Geography Department Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
- Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Brett Hankerson
- Geography Department Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
- Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Alexander V. Prishchepov
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management University of Copenhagen København K Denmark
- Institute of Steppe of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Science (RAS) Orenburg Russia
| | - Florian Schierhorn
- Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Daniel Müller
- Geography Department Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
- Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human‐Environment Systems (IRI THESys) Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
- Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) Halle (Saale) Germany
| | - Norbert Hölzel
- Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group Institute of Landscape Ecology University of Münster Münster Germany
| | - Roland Krämer
- Geography Department Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
- Department of Ecosystem Services Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany
| | - Ruslan Urazaliyev
- Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group Institute of Landscape Ecology University of Münster Münster Germany
- Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK) Nur‐Sultan Kazakhstan
| | - Tobias Kuemmerle
- Geography Department Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
- Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human‐Environment Systems (IRI THESys) Humboldt‐Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
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Toward Rigorous Telecoupling Causal Attribution: A Systematic Review and Typology. SUSTAINABILITY 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/su10124426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Telecoupled flows of people, organisms, goods, information, and energy are expanding across the globe. Causes are integral components of the telecoupling framework, yet the rigor with which they have been identified and evaluated to date is unknown. We address this knowledge gap by systematically reviewing causal attribution in the telecoupling literature (n = 89 studies) and developing a standardized causal terminology and typology for consistent use in telecoupling research. Causes are defined based on six criteria: sector (e.g., environmental, economic), system of origin (i.e., sending, receiving, spillover), agent, distance, response time (i.e., time lapse between cause and effect), and direction (i.e., producing positive or negative effects). Using case studies from the telecoupling literature, we demonstrate the need to enhance the rigor of telecoupling causal attribution by combining qualitative and quantitative methods via process-tracing, counterfactual analysis, and related approaches. Rigorous qualitative-quantitative causal attribution is critical for accurately assessing the social-ecological causes and consequences of telecouplings and thereby identifying leverage points for informed management and governance of telecoupled systems.
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8
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On the System. Boundary Choices, Implications, and Solutions in Telecoupling Land Use Change Research. SUSTAINABILITY 2017. [DOI: 10.3390/su9060974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Camino Feltes MM, Arisseto-Bragotto AP, Block JM. Food quality, food-borne diseases, and food safety in the Brazilian food industry. FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/fqs/fyx003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
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