Life cycle assessment of non-timber forest products production systems

Annisa Primaningtyas and Shabbir H. Gheewala*

<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Abstract: </strong>Non-wood forest products are any commodities obtained from the forest without cutting down trees. The role of Non-Timber
Forest Products (NTFPs) production in minimizing threats to forest sustainability has been investigated. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
can be used to measure the environmental performance and sustainability of the products. The objective of this study is to provide a
narrative literature review of previous research on the LCA of NTFPs, such as chemicals, silk, honey, rubber, bamboo, and cork, and
to compare them to their substitute products. The system boundary used in each product is varied, dominated by cradle to grave and cradle
to gate. In addition, global warming is the most common environmental impact evaluated by all studies. Furthermore, acidification and
eutrophication are commonly investigated in the production of chemical, silk, and cork products. Besides, eco-toxicity and human
toxicity are considered in fiber and silk products.The results showed that in chemical products, such as volatile oil, bioactive
compounds, tannins, and phenolics obtained from resin or bark on trees, the extraction phase tends to have the largest environmental
impact caused by the solvent used. The manufacturing process is the main contributor to the environmental impact of silk, honey,
rubber, and cork products, mainly in the raw material production and harvesting process. Furthermore, these products require electricity
to operate process equipment that produces the most significant environmental impact. Energy consumption in bamboo processing and
product transportation tends to have large environmental impacts for bamboo products. Moreover, the LCA results also considered
other environmental impacts to determine the hotspots and overall environmental profile of the production systems. The comparisons
to their substitute products are presented and briefly discussed.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental impact, non-timber forest products (NTFPs).</p>

Estimate of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from a rain-fed rice field by eddy covariance technique

Alongkorn Kanyatrakul, Arnon Settsoongnern, Amnat Chidthaisong, Pariwate Varnakovida, Tiwa Pakoktom and Monthira Yuttitham

<div style="text-align:justify;"><p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Abstract:</strong> </span><span class="fontstyle2">Climate change induced by emissions of greenhouse gases from sources associated with human activities has caused devastating impacts and is regarded as one of the most challenging threats to humankind. Quantifying the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions is an important first step towards mitigation. This study aimed to estimate the emissions of methane (CH</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">4</span><span class="fontstyle2">) and carbon dioxide (CO</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2</span><span class="fontstyle2">) from one of the most important emission sources in Thailand, which is rice cultivation, by using the eddy covariance technique. It was found that the average CH</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">4 </span><span class="fontstyle2">emission throughout the year was 0.06 mg CH</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">4</span><span class="fontstyle2">/m</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2</span><span class="fontstyle2">. The annual emission of approximately 1.37 kg CH</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">4</span><span class="fontstyle2">/ha/d was estimated. This was comparable to that provided by the IPCC for the baseline emission (i.e., 1.3 kg CH</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">4</span><span class="fontstyle2">/ha/d). On the other hand, results reveal that the rice field acted as a net carbon sink, with an annual CO</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2 </span><span class="fontstyle2">uptake of -72.60 mg CO</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2</span><span class="fontstyle2">/m</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2</span><span class="fontstyle2">/y, equivalent to 8.41 tons C/ha/y. During the growing season, an amount of CO</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2 </span><span class="fontstyle2">uptake of -52.30 mg CO</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2</span><span class="fontstyle2">/m</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2</span><span class="fontstyle2">, equivalent to 5.89 tons C/ha/y was estimated. The calculated emissions during the fallow season were approximately 2.57 tons C/ha/y. We observed no significant relationship between CH</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">4 </span><span class="fontstyle2">emissions and CO</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2 </span><span class="fontstyle2">fluxes. </span></p><p><span class="fontstyle2"></span><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Keywords:</strong> </span><span class="fontstyle2">Eddy covariance, Methane flux (CH</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">4</span><span class="fontstyle2">), Carbon dioxide flux (CO</span><span class="fontstyle2" style="font-size:6pt;">2</span><span class="fontstyle2">), Rain-fed rice field.</span><br style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;orphans:2;text-align:-webkit-auto;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;" /></p></div>