Mapping the Evidence on the Environmental Impacts of Land-Use Change for Non-food Biomass Production
2018
Makowski, David
The environmental impact of land-use change for biomass production is controversial, and it is crucial to provide stakeholders with a reliable description of the existing evidence on this topic. In this paper, we use an emerging research synthesis method called “evidence mapping” to summarize the main characteristics of 241 studies in a graphical user-friendly format. Results showed that most of the reviewed studies were located in Northern and Southern Americas, especially in USA and Brazil. A majority of studies focused on 1G and 2G biofuel, and on electricity production. The impacts on greenhouse gas emission, soil carbon content, soil erosion, water consumption, and water eutrophication were frequently assessed in the selected group of studies. The evidence maps produced in this paper revealed that only few studies were conducted to analyse the environmental impact of land-use change for methane production, for wood production, and for the chemical industry. Only few studies assessed the impact on biodiversity, on air quality, on human health, and on waste induced by land-use changes for biomass production. Our results thus highlight major gaps of knowledge and future research needs on the land-use-mediated implications of the bioeconomy.
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