Reporting the social indicators to the functional unit for food product. Theoretical contribution regarding the collection of relevant data

International audienceSeveral conceptions of social LCA lend on two often implicit hypothesis i)the source of impacts, the stressor would be either from technical origin, either from social one. It stems from it that relating the quantity of impacts to the quantity of functional unit has to be done through the unit processes, as it is done in ELCA. ii) companies are singly and freely choosing their practice, and even imposing social behaviour. We expect pointing out that we may build another representation. The values of the social indicators may be related proportionally to the functional units, if we handle them at the relevant level. Suggestions about the potential levels for picking up the data will conclude this proposal

Fruits and vegetables supply chains specificities and stakes as element of discussion on Social-LCA

International audienceAgri-food supply chains are at the heart of sustainable development concerns. In order to comprehend whole complex parameters and their global impacts, it appeared necessary to adopt a systemic approach, justifying a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), not only from an environmental point of view but from a social and economic one too. Taking into account specificities and stakes of fruits and vegetables (F&V) supply chains in developing countries this paper focus on absences, deficiencies and methodological limits that LCA meets integrating social and economic aspects. The elements presented lead to an in-depth conceptual and theoretical discussion and suggest placing LCA in the perspective of development theory. The proposition is to endow LCA with an approach by capitals, which seems particularly adapted to express sustainable development and well-being

Social impacts and life cycle assessment: proposals for methodological development for SMEs in the European food and drink sector

Purpose: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for 99 % of companies operating in the European food and drink industry and, often, are part of highly fragmented and complex food chains. The article focuses on the development of a social impact assessment methodology for SMEs in selected food and drink products as part of the EU-FP7 SENSE research project. The proposed methodology employs a top-down and bottom-up approach and focuses on labour rights/working conditions along the product supply chain as the key social impact indicator, limiting key stakeholder classification to workers/employees and local communities impacted by the production process. Problems related to this emerging field are discussed, and questions for further research are expounded. Methods: The article reviews both academic and 'grey' literature on life cycle assessment (LCA) and its relationship to social LCA (S-LCA) and SMEs at the beginning of 2013 and includes case study evidence from the food sector. A pilot questionnaire survey sent to European food and drink sector SMEs and trade associations (as partners in the research project) about their knowledge, experience and engagement with social impacts is presented. Proposals are elaborated for a social impact assessment methodology that identifies the key data for SMEs to collect. Results and discussion: The literature reveals the complexity of the S-LCA approach as it aims to unite disparate and often conflicting interests. Findings from the pilot questionnaire are discussed. Using a top-down and bottom-up approach, the proposed methodology assesses data from SMEs along the supply chain in order to gauge social improvements in the management of labour-related issues for different product sectors. Issues relating to the 'attributional' choice of a social impact indicator and key stakeholder categories are discussed. How 'scoring' is interpreted and reported and what the intended effect of its use will be are also elaborated upon. Conclusions: Whilst recognising the difficulty of devising a robust social impact assessment for SMEs in the food and drink sector, it is argued that the proposed methodology makes a useful contribution in this fast-emerging field

Searching for social peace: a theory of justice to determine the nature of impacts in social LCA

4th International Seminar in social LCA, Montpellier, FRA, 19-/11/2014 - 21/11/2014International audienceThe social life cycle assessment is a method under construction. It is used to determine the social impacts caused by one change in one life cycle. A crucial question is which categories of impact should be assessed. We must generate a theoretical framework to determine “what is worth in the social world” before answering this question

Communauté de pairs étendue et robustesse de l'analyse sociale du cycle de vie

International audiencePurpose: This paper questions the robustness of social LCA, based on four social LCA case studies. To improve robustness of social LCA, it is a necessity to fight against its weaknesses. The paper addresses three questions: 1) What are its weaknesses? 2) How can they be combated? There are solutions suggested by the Conventions theory. The Conventions theory asserts that people are capable of adopting conventions (agreements between members of a group) to define what is fair and what is not, depending on the problem. The suggested solution consists in creating a new group (which has been called "extended community of peers"), which will define a new convention adapted to each new situation. The third question is therefore: 3) Do we need to resort to an extended community of peers to combat the social LCA weaknesses? Methods: To contribute to these debates, we discuss the classification of weaknesses defined by the Roy's decision-making assistance methods: 1) not dealing with the lack of knowledge, 2) attributing undue preferential meaning to certain data, 3) implementing misleading models and 4) using meaningless technical parameters. We discuss the literature about creating new conventions thanks to peer involvement. To determine whether the creation of an extended community of peers influences the robustness, we will analyse four case studies (social LCA) which we conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The first ones were conducted in Southern territories, relating to various agricultural products (banana, meat, orange). Another case study comes from a Northern region, with the objective of comparing direct local supply systems and large scale supply chains of various agricultural products. Results and discussion: About weaknesses in LCA, we highlight that Environmental LCA authors have identified in their own works the same weaknesses points as Roy had done for other decision-making tools. We display that these weaknesses are present also in the "Guidelines for SLCA of Products" (UNEP-SETAC, 2009). About fighting these weaknesses, building an extended community of peers may be a solution, but a conditional one. We cannot draw a general conclusion from such a small number of cases. However, in both case studies where a real community of peers was formed the initial convention changed, and many weaknesses were mitigated. These changes did not occur in the other two cases, where no community of peers was mobilised. In particular, a relevant and plausible impact assessment was provided in the former two cases, while this was impossible in the latter two. The community of peers seems to function by comparison of a variety of viewpoints. Nevertheless, peer involvement is not the ultimate weapon against the weaknesses of social LCA, as we experienced it. These difficulties highlight the importance of the role of the consultants/researchers conducting the study. It is up to them to distinguish the situations which will lead to failure, from those which are manageable. It is up to them to generate the evaluative question, provide facts, and negotiate. Conclusions: The creation of a community of peers does not guarantee that problems will be solved. The consultants and researchers have a particular responsibility in decrypting the power games and unfounded beliefs. Introducing the extended community of peers into the LCA landscape goes against the quest for standardisation. But specifying which convention was chosen does not impair the genericity of the method. On the contrary, the researcher's critique of their own methods is an integral part of the scientific approach

Simulations des jeux d'acteurs : comment favoriser une démarche d'action concertée en faveur de la biodiversité forestière

L'absence de prise en compte de la biodiversité dans les pratiques de gestion des acteurs de la forêt génère un besoin de connaissance quant à l'existence de leviers d'action pour la prise en compte individuelle et colelctive de ces enjeux environnementaux. Ce travail explore ex-ante les conséquences de l'application d'une politique de développement des démarches de certification forestière sur les stratégies des acteurs de cette gestion, par la simulation d'un processus de négociation. Le premier objectif est de discuter la transposition du modèle de négociation, inspiré par de Mesquito et Stockman et créé dans le projet européen SPRITE, au thème de la biodiversité forestière

Mettre en ½uvre une nouvelle politique de protection de la biodiversité en forêt, que vont faire les acteurs ?

Ce texte décrit une étude conduite sur la zone couverte par le plan de développement de massif de la montagne thiernoise (Puy-de-Dôme) en 2007 et 2008. L'objectif était d'effectuer une évaluation ex ante de la mise en ½uvre d'une politique (fictive) de protection de la biodiversité ordinaire en forêt. L'évaluation permet d'anticiper les réactions possibles des acteurs locaux qui seraient confrontés à cette nouvelle politique publique, sur le périmètre d'un plan de développement de massif. / This paper presents a study carried out in the area covered by the Thiers-mountain development plan (Puy-de-Dôme department, Massif Central, France) in 2007 and 2008. The goal was to perform a prior assessment of a fictive policy for the protection of ordinary biodiversity in forests. The assessment was the means to anticipate the possible reactions of the local stakeholders who would be confronted with the new public policy in the context of the development plan

Apprendre la gestion durable des forêts ? Le cas du Massif Central (France)

International audienceCes dernières années, la protection de l'environnement a suscité l'émergence d'une prise de conscience mondiale. La préservation de la biodiversité forestière ordinaire est devenue un véritable enjeu. La multifonctionnalité de l'écosystème forestier est reconnue. Cependant, il semble que les propriétaires de petites surfaces forestières développent rarement des stratégies de gestion incluant des préoccupations quant à la préservation de la biodiversité. Notre question de recherche porte sur les conditions et moyens par lesquels une prise en compte volontaire de la sauvegarde de la biodiversité est possible, au sein d'actions collectives. Pour contribuer à cette question, deux méthodes d'analyse ont été utilisées successivement sur différents territoires du Massif Central (centre de la France). L'examen qualitatif des interviews permet de suggérer que l'évolution des représentations est issue de l'apprentissage collectif, au sein d'un groupe qui échange activement, dans une ambiance sociale (presse) favorable. C'est le vecteur le plus rapide et le plus efficace pour modifier les représentations et nous l'espérons- pour faire évoluer à terme les pratiques effectives