Inventory analysis of the timber industry in Ghana

Eshun, John Frank; Potting, José; Leemans, Rik

doi:10.1007/s11367-010-0207-0

Cited by 30 publications

(44 citation statements)

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“…The timber industry generates 0.8 million m 3 wood waste per year, which constituted 62% of the initial wood input to the timber industry, and contributed enormously to the rapid depletion of the country's timber resources (Eshun et al 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The five products in the LCI of Eshun et al (2010) were further compared for three different functional units (cubic meters, kilograms, or Euros). The usual functional unit of 1 m 3 of product produced was expected to insufficiently express the different services provided by the five products.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The money-based functional unit, which also seems most appropriate as a measure for the function of the different timber products considered, favors the value-added products. Value-added products with strict forestry management practice hold a promising future for the sustainability of this sector (Eshun et al 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Only the interactions between economic processes and the environment were quantified by Eshun et al (2010), but they did not yet estimate environmental performance indicators. This can be done by a formal LCIA that interprets the earlier LCI results in terms of potential impacts.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The objective of this paper is to review the relevance of different existing LCIA approaches, and to identify and apply the most relevant one to the LCI results of Eshun et al (2010). We will thus use the most suitable approach to quantify major environmental performance indicators of the timber sector in Ghana.…”

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LCA of the timber sector in Ghana: preliminary life cycle impact assessment (LCIA)

Eshun

Potting

Leemans

2011

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Most life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) approaches in life cycle assessment (LCA) are developed for western countries. Their LCIA approaches and characterization methodologies for different impact categories may not be necessarily relevant to African environmental conditions and particularly not for the timber sector in Ghana. This study reviews the relevance of existing impact categories and LCIA approaches, and uses the most relevant for the timber sector of Ghana. Materials and methods The study reviewed 23 life cycle inventories (LCIs) and LCAs on forestry, timber, and wood products for relevant impact categories and LCIA approaches for their relevance to the specific conditions in Ghana. This study uses an earlier LCI study of the timber industry as a starting point for an additional LCIA. We next performed a correlation and regression analysis to learn whether wood wastes may function as a reasonable single indicator for land use as proxy for biodiversity loss and the other impact categories. Results and discussion The literature review shows that no LCI or LCA studies were developed for Africa or the tropics. The LCIA approaches in the reviewed LCAs are indeed shown to take their basis in the environmental problems in western countries and characterization methodologies relating to how these problems manifest themselves in the western world. Characterization methodologies for different impact categories in CML-2000 and other LCIA approaches may not be necessarily relevant to African tropical environmental conditions and particularly not for the timber sector in Ghana. This situation hampers the reliability of our LCIA and points to a serious research gap in LCIA development in general.We applied the scientifically well-recognized CML 2000 to the earlier LCI results and characterized the preliminary selected impact categories of global warming, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical oxidant formation, and human toxicity. The correlation analysis indicated that wood waste is indeed strongly correlated with land use as proxy for biodiversity loss and also positively correlated with the other five potential impact results. It can be concluded that wood waste production is a major driving force for biodiversity loss and a sufficiently good single indicator for all other environmental performance indicators in the timber sector of Ghana. Conclusions This study and the previous LCI paper are pioneering a field not yet explored, since the correct environmental performance indicators are not yet developed or adapted to tropical conditions. The development of LCIA approaches in the tropics may be the start of a never-ending journey in LCA research in Africa, particularly Ghana.

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