Forestry, agriculture and the above-ground extraction of raw materials have a major impact on the quality and functionality of ecosystems. In order to make this influence assessable, the LANCA® method was developed in the GaBi department back in 2002 to evaluate land-using processes as part of the life cycle assessment. Since then, this method has been further developed and refined in co-operation with international partners from industry and research. It is available in the form of a fully functional calculation tool, the LANCA® Land Use Indicator Value Calculation Tool. It can be used to calculate characterised indicator values that describe the effects of processes on various ecosystem services. The calculations are based on geo-ecological classification systems and use site-specific input data. The method is intended for calculating life cycle assessments as part of the EU's Product Environmental Footprint (PEF).
The following ecosystem functions can be considered within the LCA using the developed method:
- Erosion resistance: The ability of a soil to prevent erosion beyond naturally occurring soil erosion.
- Mechanical filtering capacity of groundwater: The ability of a soil to filter a suspension by mechanically binding pollutants to soil particles.
- Physicochemical filter capacity of groundwater: The ability of a soil to absorb dissolved substances from the soil solution and thus prevent them from entering the groundwater.
- Groundwater recharge capacity: The ability of a soil to contribute to groundwater recharge.
- Biotic production potential: The ability of an area to produce biomass.
Characterisation factors were developed for these functions in 2016. All factors are calculated for the land-use-relevant flows in the ELCD database using globally available, spatially resolved data. LANCA® characterisation values have already been calculated in the GaBi database for various land-intensive processes, so that a consistent assessment of foreground and background systems can be carried out. Various case studies show that LANCA® - depending on the input data used - is able to map both minor site-specific differences and the influence of different land uses and different forms of management. More detailed information on the underlying method can be downloaded from the links provided.
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