Environmental impacts and mitigation effectiveness of strategic perennialization

SND-ID: 2021-206-1. Version: 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5878/7jw8-ka21

Citation

Alternative title

Beneficial land use change: Strategic expansion of new biomass plantations can reduce environmental impacts from EU agriculture

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Oskar Englund - Mid Sweden University, Dept. of Ecotechnology and sustainable building engineering orcid

Research principal

Mid Sweden University - Dept. of Ecotechnology and sustainable building engineering rorId

Description

Society faces the double challenge of increasing biomass production to meet the future demands for food,
materials and bioenergy, while addressing negative impacts of current (and future) land use. In the discourse,
land use change (LUC) has often been considered as negative, referring to impacts of deforestation and expansion of biomass plantations. However, strategic establishment of suitable perennial production systems in agricultural landscapes can mitigate environmental impacts of current crop production, while providing biomass for the bioeconomy.

Here, we explore the potential for such “beneficial LUC” in EU28. First, we map and quantify the
degree of accumulated soil organic carbon losses, soil loss by wind and water erosion, nitrogen emissions to
water, and recurring floods, in ∼81.000 individual landscapes in EU28. We then estimate the effectiveness in
mitigating these impacts through establishment of perennial plants, in each landscape.

The results indicate that there is a substantial potential for effective impact mitigation. Depending on criteria selection, 10–46% of the land

... Show more..
Society faces the double challenge of increasing biomass production to meet the future demands for food,
materials and bioenergy, while addressing negative impacts of current (and future) land use. In the discourse,
land use change (LUC) has often been considered as negative, referring to impacts of deforestation and expansion of biomass plantations. However, strategic establishment of suitable perennial production systems in agricultural landscapes can mitigate environmental impacts of current crop production, while providing biomass for the bioeconomy.

Here, we explore the potential for such “beneficial LUC” in EU28. First, we map and quantify the
degree of accumulated soil organic carbon losses, soil loss by wind and water erosion, nitrogen emissions to
water, and recurring floods, in ∼81.000 individual landscapes in EU28. We then estimate the effectiveness in
mitigating these impacts through establishment of perennial plants, in each landscape.

The results indicate that there is a substantial potential for effective impact mitigation. Depending on criteria selection, 10–46% of the land used for annual crop production in EU28 is located in landscapes that could be considered priority areas for beneficial LUC. These areas are scattered all over Europe, but there are notable “hot-spots” where priority areas are concentrated, e.g., large parts of Denmark, western UK, The Po valley in Italy, and the Danube basin. While some policy developments support beneficial LUC, implementation could benefit from attempts to realize synergies between different Sustainable Development Goals, e.g., “Zero hunger”, “Clean water and sanitation”, “Affordable and Clean Energy”, “Climate Action”, and “Life on Land”. Show less..

Data contains personal data

No

Language

Method and outcome

Time period(s) investigated

2000 – 2018

Data format / data structure

Data collection
Geographic coverage

Geographic spread

Geographic location: Europe

Geographic description: EU27+UK

Administrative information

Responsible department/unit

Dept. of Ecotechnology and sustainable building engineering

Funding 1

  • Funding agency: Adlerbertska forskningsstiftelsen

Funding 2

  • Funding agency: Swedish Energy Agency
  • Funding agency's reference number: P48364-1
  • Project name on the application: Minska negativa miljöeffekter av biomassaproduktion genom att producera mer biomassa

Funding 3

  • Funding agency: Chalmers Energy Area of Advance

Funding 4

  • Funding agency: Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels
  • Funding agency's reference number: P48364-1
  • Project name on the application: Minska negativa miljöeffekter av biomassaproduktion genom att producera mer biomassa
Topic and keywords

Research area

Environmental sciences (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Environmental management (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Agricultural science (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Renewable bioenergy research (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Environmental sciences related to agriculture and land-use (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Farming (INSPIRE topic categories)

Environment (INSPIRE topic categories)

Publications

Englund, O., Börjesson, P., Berndes, G., Scarlat, N., Dallemand, J.-F., Grizzetti, B., Dimitriou, I., Mola-Yudego, B., & Fahl, F. (2020). Beneficial land use change: Strategic expansion of new biomass plantations can reduce environmental impacts from EU agriculture. Global Environmental Change, 60, Article 101990. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101990
URN: urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-38179
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101990

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Published: 2021-07-08