Salinisation impacts in life cycle assessment: a review of challenges and options towards their consistent integration

Payen, Sandra; Basset-Mens, Claudine; Núñez, Montserrat; Follain, Stéphane; Grünberger, Olivier; Marlet, Serge; Perret, Sylvain; Roux, Philippe

doi:10.1007/s11367-016-1040-x

Cited by 33 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…This disproportionate share is due to the capability of irrigated land to increase yield through maximizing crop evapotranspiration, hence productivity, and to produce two, sometimes three crops a year. Such intensity and performance come with drawbacks: over the last 50 years, poor irrigation practices have led to the accumulation of salt in soils, alkalinization and waterlogging, damaging 60 million ha, or about one‐fifth of the world's irrigated land (Payen et al, ). The main sources of nitrate and ammonia pollution in water come from agriculture.…”

Section: The Continuous (And Worrying) Environmental Degradation Requmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LCA is increasingly used in the irrigation sector. Recent works have explored pathways to improved, less impacting water use and N fertilization in sugar cane production (Van der Laan et al, ), investigated trade‐offs between energy and water use in tomato production (Payen et al, ), defined water and soil salinization as a new impact category (Payen et al, ), combined LCA with economic analysis to explore the eco‐efficiency of cotton in Pakistan (Ullah et al, ) and of paddy rice in Thailand (Thanawong et al, ), and compared the environmental impacts of different groundwater pumping systems (Pradeleix et al, ). Overall, these research works demonstrated that optimizing the use of chemicals and addressing the issue of non‐point‐source pollution in irrigation have benefited a great deal from LCA applications.…”

Section: The Need To Implement Novel Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Payen et al . () provide a comprehensive overview of salinization mechanisms resulting from human activities (including irrigation), analyse the completeness, relevance and scientific robustness of existing published methods addressing salinization in LCA and provide recommendations for a comprehensive integration of salinization within the impact modelling frameworks in LCA. For all salinization pathways, a bottom‐up approach describing the environmental mechanisms (fate, exposure and effect) is recommended rather than an empirical or top‐down approach because: (i) salts and water are both mobile and their effects are interconnected; (ii) water and soil characteristics vary greatly spatially; (iii) this approach allows the evaluation of both on‐ and off‐site impacts; and (iv) it is the best way to discriminate systems and support a reliable eco‐design.…”

Section: Irrigation and The Environment: Stubborn Issues New Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Irrigation and the Environmental Tragedy: Pathways Towards Sustainability in Agricultural Water Use

Perret

Payen²

2020

Irrigation and Drainage

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Global environmental degradation, and the diverse and intense interactions between irrigation and the environment, are prompting the sector to play a more active role towards sustainability. This paper builds on ICID's 2030 vision on a more sustainable irrigation sector. It recaps the various environmental impacts of irrigation systems and calls for a threefold paradigm shift: the objectives of irrigation, its practices, and the ways to assess its impacts must evolve. The paper critically analyses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs') framework, which provides a prompting set of orientations, yet with little consideration of the systemic nature of irrigation. The paper promotes more operational frameworks: nexus thinking and the ecosystem services' framework, since both allow for systemic approaches, and for developing trade-offs. The paper also discusses the merits of life cycle analysis (LCA) for environmental impact assessment. The benefits gained through these alternative approaches are illustrated in two cases of environmental impacts: return flow and salinization. Finally, the paper suggests combining these approaches with three principles for fostering a true paradigm shift in agricultural water use: developing and using suitable metrics, combining models to reconnect economic concerns with environmental ones, and considering larger territories and ecosystems to cater for interactions with the environment. RÉSUMÉLa dégradation de l'environnement, les interactions diverses et intenses entre irrigation et environnement, forcent le secteur à jouer un rôle plus actif vers la durabilité. Cet article s'appuie sur la vision 2030 formulée par la CIID sur la durabilité du secteur de l'irrigation. Il récapitule les divers impacts des systèmes irrigués, et appelle à un véritable changement de paradigme, en trois volets: les objectifs de l'usage agricole de l'eau, ses pratiques, et les façons d'en évaluer les impacts doivent évoluer. L'article analyse d'abord le cadre des objectifs de développement durable (ODD), qui fournit des orientations engageantes, mais avec peu de considérations du caractère systémique de l'usage agricole de l'eau et de ses impacts. L'article promeut des cadres d'analyse alternatifs et plus opératoires: le raisonnement en nexus et les services écosystémiques, car tous deux permettent une approche plus systémique, et de penser les compromis. L'article discute également des bénéfices de l'analyse en cycle de vie (ACV) pour l'évaluation des impacts environnementaux. Les mérites de ces approches sont illustrés par deux cas d'impacts environnementaux: le débit de retour et la salinisation. En conclusion, l'article suggère d'associer ces approches avec trois principes, pour accompagner un vrai changement de paradigme dans l'usage agricole de l'eau: développer et utiliser des métriques adaptés, combiner modèles et approches pour réconcilier les préoccupations économiques et environnementales, et considérer plus largement les territoires et écosystèmes de l'eau pour mieux intégrer les interactions ...

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Section: The Continuous (And Worrying) Environmental Degradation Requmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Need To Implement Novel Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Irrigation and The Environment: Stubborn Issues New Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Irrigation and the Environmental Tragedy: Pathways Towards Sustainability in Agricultural Water Use

Perret

Payen²

2020

Irrigation and Drainage

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“…A major drawback of the model is the focus on soil salinization with irrigation water, whereas land use change, brine disposal, and overuse of coastal groundwater bodies are anthropogenic drivers that may concomitantly lead to salt accumulation in agricultural soils. 19 Another limitation is that we assumed that the movement of water in the soil profile is not affected by the presence of a sodic horizon. Sodic layers prevent water transmission due to structural problems, restricting leaching and drainage, and eventually leading to salt accumulation in the soil.…”

Section: Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite its environmental relevance, its geographical validity is limited to South Africa and the use in other countries is not recommended. Payen et al 19 did a thorough review of salinization impacts in LCA and provided recommendations on the key parameters to include in LCA models for irrigation-induced soil salinization but without operationalization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Regionalised Life Cycle Assessment Model to Globally Assess the Environmental Implications of Soil Salinization in Irrigated Agriculture

Núñez

Finkbeiner

2020

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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We present a global, locally resolved life cycle assessment (LCA) model to assess the potential effects on soil quality due to the accumulation of water-soluble salts in the agricultural soil profile, allowing differentiation between agricultural practices. Using globally available soil and climate information and crop specific salt tolerances, the model quantifies the negative implications that salts in irrigation water have on soil quality, in terms of change in the soil electrical conductivity and the corresponding change in the amount of crops that can be grown at increasing soil salinity levels. To facilitate the use of the model, we provide a life cycle inventory tool with information on salts emitted with irrigation water per country and 160 crops. Global average soil susceptibility is 0.19 dS/m per grams of salt in 1 m 3 of soil, and the average resulting relative crop diversity loss is 5.7 × 10 −2 per grams of salt in 1 m 3 of soil. These average values vary tangibly as a function of the location. In most humid regions worldwide, the characterization factor is null, showing that in these cases soil salinization due to irrigation does not contribute to soil degradation. We displayed how to apply the model with a case study. The model serves for guiding decision-making processes toward improving the sustainability of irrigated agriculture.

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Soil Salinization and Management of Salty Soils

Montoroi¹

2018

Soils as a Key Component of the Critical Zone 5

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Salinisation impacts in life cycle assessment: a review of challenges and options towards their consistent integration

Cited by 33 publications

References 69 publications

Irrigation and the Environmental Tragedy: Pathways Towards Sustainability in Agricultural Water Use

Irrigation and the Environmental Tragedy: Pathways Towards Sustainability in Agricultural Water Use

A Regionalised Life Cycle Assessment Model to Globally Assess the Environmental Implications of Soil Salinization in Irrigated Agriculture

Soil Salinization and Management of Salty Soils

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