Comparison of Water-focused Life Cycle Assessment and Water Footprint Assessment: The case of an Italian wine

Borsato, Eros; Giubilato, Elisa; Zabeo, Alex; Lamastra, Lucrezia; Criscione, Paolo; Tarolli, Paolo; Pizzol, Lisa

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.331

Cited by 46 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Rosa et al, 2018). In the specific context of agriculture, sustainable irrigation strategies need to allow for an increase in crop production to meet rising food needs, while ensuring that natural resources (e.g., groundwater stocks, freshwater ecosystems, and water quality) are not irreversibly depleted (Borsato et al, 2019;Rosa et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weak and Strong Sustainability of Irrigation: A Framework for Irrigation Practices Under Limited Water Availability

Borsato

Rosa

Marinello

et al. 2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Agriculture strongly relies on irrigation. While irrigated land accounts for roughly 20% of the global cultivated area, it contributes to about 40% of crop production. In the last few decades, the growing demand for agricultural commodities has translated into an increasing pressure on the global freshwater resources, often leading to their unsustainable use. Here we investigate the sustainability of irrigation, balancing farmers' profit generation objectives and the needs of ecological systems. We ask the question "sustainability of what?" to stress how the sustainability of irrigation is often evaluated with respect the opposing needs of humans and nature. While from the farmers' perspective irrigation is sustainable when it provides uninterrupted access to water resources at a price not exceeding the marginal revenue they generate (clearly without accounting for environmental externalities), from the standpoint of water resources, irrigation is sustainable if it does not deplete freshwater stocks or environmental flows. We invoke the notions of "weak" and "strong" sustainability to develop a novel framework for the evaluation of tradeoffs between human needs and the conservation of natural capital. Through the analysis of criteria of performance, we relate water deficit and irrigation overuse to the reliability and resilience of irrigation. This approach is applied to the case of Australia, a major agricultural country affected by water scarcity. The application of the framework to the case of Australia shows how this approach can be used to highlight areas in which irrigation contributes to a weakly sustainable use of water resources with impacts on environmental flows and groundwater stocks. Solutions, such as increasing efficiencies or reducing water applications through the adoption of deficit irrigation, can enhance water sustainability in some water scarce locations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weak and Strong Sustainability of Irrigation: A Framework for Irrigation Practices Under Limited Water Availability

Borsato

Rosa

Marinello

et al. 2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…In Umbria again, Bartocci et al [38] calculated the carbon, ecological, and WF, along with several LCA-related environmental impacts, for two different varieties of grapes during cultivation, wine production, vinegar ageing, and bottling, following the ISO approach [21]. Recently, Borsato et al [39] compared the WF outcomes of a volumetric (i.e., the V.I.V.A. tool [34]) and two LCA-based approaches (i.e., Available WAter REmaing -AWARE [40] and Water Scarcity Index [14]) during the production of a white wine variety in Northeast Italy to improve water management.…”

Section: Italian Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bonamente et al [36]; Borsato et al [39]; Miglietta and Morrone [43] Proliferation of eco-labelling options limiting business differentiation possibilities Miglietta and Morrone [43] 3.1. Drivers…”

Section: Water Stewardship In the Italian Wine Industry: Drivers And mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Water Footprint Review of Italian Wine: Drivers, Barriers, and Practices for Sustainable Stewardship

Aivazidou

Tsolakis

2020

Water

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Wine constitutes the dominant Italian agricultural product with respect to both production quantity and economic value. Italy is the top wine producer worldwide in terms of volume and the second one below France in terms of national income. As the Italian agricultural production accounts for 85% of the national freshwater appropriation, the country’s agricultural sector strains freshwater resources, especially in the central and southern regions, which constitute important winemaking areas in terms of quantity and quality. To this end, we first perform a review of the existing research efforts on wine water footprint assessment to investigate the water dynamics of wine production in Italy compared to the rest of the world. The results indicate a prevalence of studies on the water footprint of Italian wine, emphasising the need for deeper research on the sector’s water efficiency. Then, we aim at exploring the major drivers, barriers, and good practises for systematic water stewardship in the Italian winemaking industry, considering the product and territorial characteristics. This research is anticipated to contribute towards providing insights for practitioners in the Italian wine sector to develop water-friendly corporate schemes for enhancing the added value of their products.

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“…Number of papers References 2019 8 [8], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43] 2018 23 [3], [7], [31], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58], [59], [60], [61], [62], [ literature review. Fig.…”

Section: Yearmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If compared to other chains, the wine industry is considered of low environmental impact [2,7]. However, studies show the adoption of different practices in different themes with a focus on improving environmental performance [7][8][9][10][11]. Although the publication of studies on sustainability and environmental performance in wine organizations has increased substantially in recent years, Christ and Burritt [2] point out that this has occurred in a disconnected way and that, overall, is underdeveloped.…”

Section: Introduction mentioning

confidence: 99%

How Has the Wine Sector Incorporated the Premises of Circular Economy?

Berardi¹,

Dias²

2019

JESE-B

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Much has been done in the wine production sector to promote sustainable development. Given its relevance in the economy and in society, it is fundamental to align its activities with the optimal use of resources and the regeneration and restoration of the natural system in agreement with the premises set by the Circular Economy (CE). The main interest of this work was, through a systematic literature review, to identify in the revised studies how the wine sector has incorporated the premises of CE in its activities. Six topics define the concerns addressed: water, solid waste, energy, chemical use, land use and ecosystems, in different parts of the chain: viticulture, winemaking and distribution. From the evaluation of 41 selected empirical studies, no clear definition regarding CE was found; however, the detailed analysis reveals aspects which incorporate CE practices such as the reduction of waste disposal by its treatment and recovery, the best use of resources at all stages of the process chain and the need to rethink and redesign current practices. The specific subjects identified were waste recovery, alternative energy sources such as biofuels production and water quality improvement. Land use, ecosystem impacts, and use of agrochemicals were not considered.

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Comparison of Water-focused Life Cycle Assessment and Water Footprint Assessment: The case of an Italian wine

Cited by 46 publications

References 40 publications

Weak and Strong Sustainability of Irrigation: A Framework for Irrigation Practices Under Limited Water Availability

Weak and Strong Sustainability of Irrigation: A Framework for Irrigation Practices Under Limited Water Availability

A Water Footprint Review of Italian Wine: Drivers, Barriers, and Practices for Sustainable Stewardship

How Has the Wine Sector Incorporated the Premises of Circular Economy?

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