Suchergebnisse

The issue of local food supply has attracted considerable political and public attention, due to the changing preferences of consumers, who have more awareness about ecological sustainability, in particular, but also due to recent developments concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to identify measures facilitating local food value chains, which are resilient to different nationwide and global future developments, the aim of our analysis was to set the identified measures derived from the local roadmap of the city of Graz in the context of European scenarios for the agri-food sector in 2035. The results show that certain measures are applicable under all of the described scenarios, such as the food policy council, whereas some measures—for example, open food labs—are less suitable or need to be adjusted to fit the purpose within changing framework conditions. Setting specific measures for a city region in the broader context of European agri-food scenarios provides a systemic perspective, thus making the multiple links and influences more visible.

AbstractThis article defines the term valorization of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) measures, as distinguished from their valuation, and underpins it with an assessment of private valorization examples along the agri-food value chain. Valorization incentivizes measures for promoting BES, while valuation refers to its quantification. Valuation can be a step of valorization but is not indispensable. In scientific literature, the terms valorization and valuation are often used interchangeably. In addition, there is a lack of research on private options versus conventional, public policy options. Therefore, we searched for private valorization options primarily in public sources (gray literature and websites). This led to the identification of four clusters (markets for voluntary services, labeling, and certification, environmental management/CSR, and tradable permits and quotas). Based on these clusters the options were assessed from a legal and systems dynamics perspective. In addition, the viability of selected valorization options in different future scenarios was examined. The analysis revealed a wide range of private valorization options, which in contrast to public policy options that focus almost entirely on the production stage, are spread across the agri-food value chain. Their suitability differs under different future scenarios, legal and systems conditions.

AbstractBy combining qualitative scenarios and life cycle assessment (LCA), we place the latter in a larger context. This study outlines the importance of the integration of future perspectives into LCA, and also the significance of taking changes in the environment of technology into account, rather than just technological development itself. Accordingly, we focused on adapting the background system of an attributional LCA in the agri-food sector. The proposed technology was assumed not have evolved in the considered time horizon. In this context, the objectives of this paper were twofold: (i) to methodologically prove the applicability of integrating qualitative scenarios into LCA and (ii) to focus on changes in the background system, which is sometimes overlooked in the context of future-oriented LCA. This allowed to evaluate the future potential of different technologies, assessing their environmental impact under uncertain future developments. Methodologically, the qualitative information from scenarios was transformed into quantitative data, which was successively fed into the life cycle inventory (LCI) of the LCA approach. This point of integration into the second phase of LCA translates into future changes in the entire environment in which a technology is used. This means that qualitatively described scenario narratives need to be converted into value estimates in order to be incorporated into the LCA model. A key conclusion is that changes in the background of an LCA—the changing framework expressed through the inventory database—can be very important for the environmental impact of emerging technologies. This approach was applied to a food processing technology to produce apple juice. The proposed methodology enables technology developers to make their products future-proof and robust against socioeconomic development. In addition, the market perspective, if spelled out in the scenarios, can be integrated, leading to a more holistic picture of LCA with its environmental focus, while simultaneously empowering actors to make the right strategic decisions today, especially when considering the long investment cycles in the agri-food sector.

Unsere Gesellschaft befindet sich an der Schwelle zu einem Zeitalter der Bioökonomie, deren konkrete Ausgestaltung in vielen Bereichen noch gesellschaftlich ausgehandelt werden muss. Die in verschiedenen Wirtschaftsbereichen möglichen biotechnologischen Produkte und Verfahren sowie Rohstoffe und Materialien sind vielfältig und bieten zugleich Chancen und Herausforderungen im Hinblick auf die Kosten, den Nutzen und die Auswirkungen auf Biodiversität, ökologische, wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Nachhaltigkeit sowie Lebensqualität. Die Transformation hin zu einer nachhaltigen Bioökonomie steht in enger Wechselwirkung mit sich wandelnden Werte- und Konsummustern, Lebensstilen und passenden politischen Rahmenbedingungen. Zudem wird sie unterschiedliche Bereiche der Gesellschaft erfassen, nicht nur die Landwirtschaft, die industrielle Produktion oder das Gesundheitswesen, sondern auch die Mobilität, das Wohnen, Arbeiten, Lernen, die Ernährung und den Konsum - alles Aktivitäten mit hohem Energie­ und Rohstoffbedarf. Im Projekt BioKompass, gefördert durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), wurden dafür verschiedene partizipative Ansätze entwickelt und erprobt. Aufgrund der langfristigen Perspektive der Bioökonomie, die sich erst in den kommenden 10 bis 20 Jahren breit entfalten wird, wurden im Projekt mit Expert:innen, Schüler:innen und Bürger:innen alternative Zukunftsszenarien für das Jahr 2040 entwickelt, die als inhaltlicher Bezugspunkt aller Aktivitäten dienten. Die Erkenntnisse aus dem Projekt und der begleitenden Evaluation bilden die Grundlage dieses Leitfadens für die Nutzung von Zukunftsszenarien für partizipative Dialogformate.

Life and biological sciences and technologies are enablers for bio-based innovations that bear the potential to use natural resources sustainably, by reducing dependence on fossil fuels, by protecting the environment and climate, ensuring food security, and maintaining international competitiveness. This study presents the 50 most significant bio-based innovations for the next 5-20 years. The portfolio of top 50 bio-based innovations covers on the one hand cross-cutting technologies and approaches, enabling many different applications, on the other hand innovation areas or solutions to challenges, which may be enabled by different technologies or approaches. Together with a policy and innovation ecosystem analysis and four bio-based innovation scenarios for Europe in 2030, the study provides strategic knowledge for policy makers, innovation stakeholders and society. It reveals that in order to fully exploit the potential of bio-based innovations stakeholders have to implement strategic approaches and various actions. Potential measures are ranging from further support of Research & Development, to knowledge transfer and collaboration, demand-oriented measures as well as to strive for higher coherence between different regions in the European Union.