The way forward relative to assessing soils impacts and the sustainability of biomass production systems rests with proactive proper soil management and not reactive monitoring for screening of the condition, quality, and health of soils relative to sustaining productivity. [...] Allen and Hoekstra (1994) clearly pointed out that there is no absolute definition of sustainability, and that it must be viewed within the context of the human conceptual framework, societal decisions on the state of ecosystem to be sustained, and the temporal and spatial scales over which sustainability is to be judged. [...] In most instances the key environmental parameter is water quality, and the focus of BMPs in both forest and agricultural management is the Streamside Management Zone (SMZ) (Neary et al. [...] In the forestry and bioenergy context, they are used most commonly to protect water resources, and are usually developed to achieve a balance between environmental protection and the production of woody and herbaceous crops within natural and economic limitations (Aust et al. [...] The last stage of an LCA is to interpret and check the results of the study and not to assess improvements.
- Pages
- 125
- Published in
- France
