Reducing greenhouse gas emissions with urban agriculture: A Life Cycle Assessment perspective

Kulak, Michal; Graves, Anil; Chatterton, Julia

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.11.007

Cited by 225 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In this line, a study on home gardens in Australia assessed the variables affecting water consumption in gardens, underlining the role of lifestyle and garden management practices [46]. However, no study have quantified the environmental impacts of urban food production in home gardens-thereby considering all the external inputs and the resulting productivity, unlike other typologies of UA (e.g., rooftop agriculture, community gardening, aquaponics) [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55].…”

Section: Home Gardensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-Efficiency Assessment and Food Security Potential of Home Gardening: A Case Study in Padua, Italy

et al. 2018

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Abstract:In the expanding urban agriculture phenomenon in Europe, home gardens are a traditional form that have kept agriculture within cities, even becoming crucial in certain historical periods (e.g., war periods). However, horticultural practices in home gardens can also have negative consequences. The goal of this paper is to assess the eco-efficiency of home gardens as a type of urban agriculture. To do so, a case study in Padua (Italy) was evaluated following life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methods. A home garden of 30.6 m 2 and 21 crop cycles were evaluated. The functional unit of the assessment was 1 kg of harvested fresh vegetable at the consumption point, and the ReCiPe method was employed for impact assessment. Environmental assessment indicated that organic fertilization, use of tap water, mineral fertilization and pesticides were the most contributing elements of the entire life cycle. Furthermore, the relevance of garden design and crop selection was a determinant in the eco-efficiency results. The assessed home garden could satisfy the food requirements of between 1 and 2 members of the household. Crop management and design recommendations are provided to improve eco-efficiency and food security potential of home gardens.

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Section: Home Gardensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-Efficiency Assessment and Food Security Potential of Home Gardening: A Case Study in Padua, Italy

et al. 2018

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“…For fruits and vegetables this share is 11%, because the production phase is less emission intensive (Weber and Matthews 2008). For the UK, a recent life-cycle analysis of community agriculture on vacant land reported a reduction of only 0.4% of the total food-related emissions (Kulak et al 2013). Reduced yields, additional inputs (e.g.…”

Section: Global Climate Regulating Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reduced yields, additional inputs (e.g. containers or artificial soil) and reduced scale effects may even cause higher green-house gas emissions in UA than in the conventional supply systems (see also Kulak et al 2013) . Thus, reducing transport by consuming local food does not a priori trigger a net greenhouse gas emission reduction in our food supply.…”

Section: Global Climate Regulating Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, reducing transport by consuming local food does not a priori trigger a net greenhouse gas emission reduction in our food supply. It can reduce emissions at a local scale, with small-scale producers, and produce suitable for the local climate, soils and seasons (Edwards-Jones 2010; Kulak et al 2013). The indication that UA potentially alters consumer diets towards low carbon foods means that UA may also have an indirect reduction effect on the household carbon footprint (Jones and Kammen 2011).…”

Section: Global Climate Regulating Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Advocates of UA seek consumer support by highlighting the environmental benefits of UA, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced biodiversity in cities. However, scientific evidence of these services and benefits is very limited as with other urban green infrastructure (Pataki et al 2011; but see Kulak et al 2013). Nonetheless policy makers at various levels are increasingly interested in UA (see e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential ecosystem services of urban agriculture: a review

Aerts

Dewaelheyns

Achten

2016

Preprint

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Urban agriculture (UA) is increasingly proposed as an environmentally friendly answer to global challenges including urbanization, public health, food security and climate change. We provide an overview of present evidence of ecosystem services delivered by UA that could potentially increase the sustainability of the urban ecosystem, including the often claimed reduced greenhouse gas emissions. There is general agreement that UA is important for local food production, especially in the south; that UA has a role in regulating green and blue water flows, organic waste flows and pollination; and that UA has important socio-cultural values, including an improved quality of city life and increased local community capacity. There is some evidence that UA may also improve human health because of dietary changes in certain social classes, but these are potentially confounded by environmental pollution in the city. Quantitative evidence is very limited for all ecosystem services, but the available data nevertheless suggests that the overall food productivity and the total reductions in greenhouse gas emission are low at global or city-wide scale despite the fact that UA has potential strong effects on food security at the local scale. The current eagerness of industrialized cities to integrate UA into their food policies as an approach to become "climate neutral" or to rely on ecosystem services to become more resilient calls for life cycle assessment studies that accurately quantify emission reductions and other urban ecosystem services of urban agriculture.

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A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture

et al. 2018

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Though urban agriculture (UA), defined here as growing of crops in cities, is increasing in popularity and importance globally, little is known about the aggregate benefits of such natural capital in built‐up areas. Here, we introduce a quantitative framework to assess global aggregate ecosystem services from existing vegetation in cities and an intensive UA adoption scenario based on data‐driven estimates of urban morphology and vacant land. We analyzed global population, urban, meteorological, terrain, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) datasets in Google Earth Engine to derive global scale estimates, aggregated by country, of services provided by UA. We estimate the value of four ecosystem services provided by existing vegetation in urban areas to be on the order of $33 billion annually. We project potential annual food production of 100–180 million tonnes, energy savings ranging from 14 to 15 billion kilowatt hours, nitrogen sequestration between 100,000 and 170,000 tonnes, and avoided storm water runoff between 45 and 57 billion cubic meters annually. In addition, we estimate that food production, nitrogen fixation, energy savings, pollination, climate regulation, soil formation and biological control of pests could be worth as much as $80–160 billion annually in a scenario of intense UA implementation. Our results demonstrate significant country‐to‐country variability in UA‐derived ecosystem services and reduction of food insecurity. These estimates represent the first effort to consistently quantify these incentives globally, and highlight the relative spatial importance of built environments to act as change agents that alleviate mounting concerns associated with global environmental change and unsustainable development.

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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions with urban agriculture: A Life Cycle Assessment perspective

Cited by 225 publications

References 13 publications

Eco-Efficiency Assessment and Food Security Potential of Home Gardening: A Case Study in Padua, Italy

Eco-Efficiency Assessment and Food Security Potential of Home Gardening: A Case Study in Padua, Italy

Potential ecosystem services of urban agriculture: a review

A Global Geospatial Ecosystem Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture

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