Economic and environmental sustainability of forestry measures in Apulia Region Rural Development Plan: An application of life cycle approach

Published Date
November 2014, Vol.41:284–289, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.06.007

Author 

Michele Moretti ^,

Annalisa De Boni

Rocco Roma

Department of Agro-environmental and Territorial Sciences, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy

Received 22 November 2013. Revised 27 May 2014. Accepted 10 June 2014. Available online 17 July 2014.

Highlights

• Policy makers need tools to increase the consistency the decision-making processes in achieving sustainability.
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  Measure 122 of Apulian Rural Development Plans 2007–2013 aims to enhance the forests productivity.
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  Apulia is at the end of the national rank for woodiness.
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  Life Cycle Assessment combined with economic analysis is useful to drive decision-making toward sustainability.

Abstract 

This article investigates the applicability of combined Life Cycle Assessment and market analysis, to support efficiency evaluation of rural development strategies developed by the Apulian Rural Development Plan 2007–2013 (BURP n 93 26/05/2010). Measure 122 “Improving the economic value of forest” had the aim to improve of forestry farms technological resources addressing them toward the biomass production. As an example pellet production from sawmill residues (PSR) and firewood productions have been compared both under environmental and economic performances. The functional unit (FU) is 1 kWh of residential thermal energy. Environmental impacts of both fuels have been evaluated through the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, considering the most relevant impact categories: the damages on human health, the ecosystems qualities, the kg of CO₂ eq. produced (GWP100) and the balance between energy requests and consumed (Cumulative Energy Demand – CED). About the economic analysis, data on pellet and firewood local market prices have been collected and consumer's expenditure for FU calculated. Results supplied relevant suggestions to improve efficiency and farmer's subscription to Apulia Regional Development Plan forestry measures.

Abbreviations

kW, kilowatt

kWh, kilowatt hour

NCV, net calorific value

UAA, Utilized Agricultural Area

CV, coefficient of variation

Keywords

Rural development

Governance

Life Cycle Assessment

Economic profitability

Woody biomass

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  Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0805443603.
  
  

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