86 research outputs found
Investigating the environmental sustainability of a PGI production: the case of Melone Mantovano
No full textThe European Union is strongly promoting Geographical Indications (GI) products since the literature has demonstrated how these products can have positive impacts on the social and economic aspects of sustainability. However, environmental sustainability has to be more deeply investigated. This work is aimed to evaluate the environmental impacts of the GI production, also in comparison to conventional production. As first case of study, the supply chain of the Melone Mantovano GI has been investigated and compared to the conventional production in the same area. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) and the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) have been estimated by a LCA approach. The first results do not allow a generalization of the environmental benefits related to PGI because are affected by particular practices by the companies. Further developments are in progress to analyze different supply chains and indicators for investigating if the certification can be correlated to environmental sustainability
Dissipation-Time Uncertainty Relation
No full textWe show that the entropy production rate bounds the rate at which physical processes can be performed in stochastic systems far from equilibrium. In particular, we prove the fundamental tradeoff S ̇eT≥kB between the entropy flow S ̇e into the reservoirs and the mean time T to complete any process whose time-reversed is exponentially rarer. This dissipation-time uncertainty relation is a novel form of speed limit: The smaller the dissipation, the larger the time to perform a process
Comparing different food waste management options: a review of LCA studies
No full textThe food waste paradox is in the centre of attention of the scientific community, institutions, and citizens. Having a sustainable management of the food wasted can lead to major benefits for economy, society, and environment. The paper focuses on various studies that used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare
different food waste management methods with the aims to understand the state of the art and the effectiveness of food waste management in the framework of the European directives and regulations and to find out how research can support overcoming the current gaps. The review has concentrated on the choices of functional unit and system boundaries and on the results of the LCA studies. Generally, the food waste hierarchy is respected and landfilling overall is always the worst option. Also, the importance of the context was underlined. Some gaps were identified: a low attention to the prevention and re-use phase of the waste hierarchy – which should be instead the most preferred - and the lack of the assessment of the impacts of transportation, type of food and infrastructures. The results of this study can be useful for policymakers, to divert policies toward more sustainable and suitable management options, but also for researchers to compare innovative solutions to the ones already in use
Interacting Brownian dynamics in a nonequilibrium particle bath
No full textWe set up a mesoscopic theory for interacting Brownian particles embedded in a nonequilibrium environment, starting from the microscopic interacting many-body theory. Using nonequilibrium linear-response theory, we characterize the effective dynamical interactions on the mesoscopic scale and the statistics of the nonequilibrium environmental noise, arising upon integrating out the fast degrees of freedom. As hallmarks of nonequilibrium, the breakdown of the fluctuation-dissipation and action-reaction relations for Brownian degrees of freedom is exemplified with two prototypical models for the environment, namely active Brownian particles and stirred colloids
Adoption of circular economy practices in agriculture. A case study of Italian fruit and vegetables producers
No full textCurrent production systems are generating huge pressures on soil, water and atmosphere ecosystems, compromising their long-term capability to sustain agricultural activities. CE is argued to reduce environmental degradation while enhancing the economic health of farms. Nevertheless, overall CE implications for agriculture are still an open question. Most studies concentrate on CE processes and single value chains, but we need a better understanding of CE determinants and effects at farm level, where decisions to adopt CE are made.
The paper leans on literature that positions the use of scarce natural resources and its uncertainty in the frame of Socio-Ecological Systems (SES), under the Resource Dependency lens. Our SES model of the farm includes the farmer, farm ecosystem and secondary stakeholders (formal and informal institutions). The farm ecosystem provides soil resources to the farmer. The latter activity impacts on ecosystems’ supporting services. A farm-level exploration is necessary to understand which CE practices farmers have adopted and how they are making the relationship between agriculture and nature more sustainable.
2. Methodology
The analysis is based on multiple case studies performed on a sample of 13 Italian fruit and vegetables producers. Farms are all located in Pianura Padana region, and produce melon (5 cases), radicchio (3), pear (5). Multiple cases belonging to the same value chains and same-region ecosystems make results more reliable, the use of different value chains makes them more generalizable. A semi-structured approach is used in interviews and visits, with a questionnaire addressing farm state, waste streams, adopted practices, drivers. Interviews were transcribed and coded through a mixed inductive and deductive approach.
3. Results
A first result is the development of a framework that connects the types of adopted CE practices with types of in-farm wastes. Identification of the main determinants of farmers’ decision to implement CE practices is still ongoing, with preliminary evidence about the role of secondary stakeholders and the state of farm ecosystem.
4. Conclusions
The main implications of results for research are the identification of CE adoption antecedents, and the potential of integrating literature on strategic drivers of CE (e.g. stakeholders’ actions) with literature looking at operational dimensions (as waste management). An expected benefit for farmers will be the availability of a framework to guide their decisions on CE adoption
Resilience of benthic diatom communities in Mediterranean streams: Role of endangered species
No full textSupraseasonal drought in an Alpine river: Effects on benthic primary production and diatom community
No full textOver the last decades, the ongoing global climate change, combined with consequent increasing water demand for human needs, is causing recurrent droughts in previously perennial streams. These phenomena have been dramatically increasing their extent, with significant repercussions on the entire food web. Consequences of water scarcity are particularly remarkable in mountain streams, where the frequency of droughts is increasing at a rate that does not allow species to adapt. In the present research, we monitored benthic diatom communities within an intermittent Alpine river (Pellice River; North-Western Italy) during the three key phases of its hydrological cycle: i) stable flow ii) lentification iii) rewetting of the riverbed after a supraseasonal drought lasting five months. We tested the response of diatom communities in terms of compositional, structural and functional metrics (primary production, species composition, ecological guilds, life forms and eco-morphological groups) hypothesising both taxonomic and functional changes during the different steps of this hydrological cycle. Significant changes in benthic chlorophyll a occurred in the three hydrological phases. In particular, the relative proportion of the chlorophyll a of the three main autotrophic groups inhabiting the periphyton (namely diatoms, cyanobacteria and green algae) resulted as a reliable metric for the evaluation of the hydrological disturbance. Diatom chlorophyll a significantly decreased during both lentification and drought. The three phases were significantly characterized by different species and functional groups. During the stable flow the low profile (i.e., species of short stature, adapted to high current velocities and low nutrients concentrations) was the most representative guild and Achnanthidium pyrenaicum was the most abundant species; this phase was also characterized by the presence of stalked taxa. We observed a significant decrease of high profile species (i.e., species of tall stature, adapted to high nutrients concentrations and low current velocities) during the lentification phase, which was characterized by taxa belonging to the genera Navicula, Nitzschia and Ulnaria. During the rewetting, small and medium sized high profile diatoms as well as motile ones (i.e., fast moving species) characterized the assemblages. Our results showed that the complete recovery of diatom communities took at least 70 days after water return. The rapid and widespread extension of droughts in the Alpine area will have severe consequences on the river biota, also favouring the spread of invasive taxa. For this reason, outlining patterns of diatom response to droughts and detecting reliable metrics for the evaluation of this specific impact is very urgent and important
Are Geographical Indication products environmentally sound? The case of pears in North of Italy
No full textThe sustainability of Geographical Indication (GI) products has been investigated from social and economic standpoints, but their environmental sustainability is not yet well understood. This gap is especially problematic for food products because their production processes have significant impacts on the environment and at the same time are highly affected by climate change. This research is aimed to investigate the environmental performances of an Italian GI pear, by comparing its impacts with those of the corresponding conventional production, and to identify the most important improvement strategies. The case of “Pera Mantovana” is assessed through a life cycle assessment. Primary data are collected through extensive in-person interviews across a local sample of four on-field farms and two post-harvest organizations. The environmental impacts are not found to differ between GI and conventional productions. Moreover, the main hotspots are identified, and improvement strategies are evaluated. It is recommended to use the existing GI specification as a vehicle of environmental standards, also profiting from the new European regulation on GIs
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