Purpose We tested the effectiveness of the global and ecoregion-based average characterization factors (CFs) for “Potential Species Loss” recommended by the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative to identify hotspots and improvement opportunities compared to using a land competition indicator for a product for which the predominant life cycle use of land is forest management. Methods For a case study of average corrugated boxes produced in the US, system boundaries were defined to encompass all life cycle stages from forest management to disposal. Fiber procurement was regionalized to US ecoregions, and (Chaudhary et al. Environ Sci Technol 49:9987–9995, 2015 ) ecoregion-specific CFs were applied. US-average CFs were applied to other background processes. Hotspots were identified using contribution analyses, and improvement opportunities were evaluated using scenarios. We compared the results with those from applying a land competition indicator, often used as a proxy for biodiversity in LCA. Results and discussion Forest management was identified as the activity within the life cycle of corrugated boxes that uses the greatest amount of land, allowing the definition of two potential improvement opportunities: reducing fiber consumption and intensifying forest management. By applying the recommended CFs, fiber procurement was also identified as the main contributor to “Potential Species Loss.” The CFs also allowed to identify ecoregions in which species were potentially the most affected by forest management and related potential improvement opportunities. Tradeoffs between taxonomic groups were discussed. In some cases, the results contradicted those from applying a land competition indicator, and in many cases, we were unable to reconcile the results obtained with existing scientific knowledge on species diversity and forest management. Conclusions and recommendations The results obtained by applying the recommended CFs could not always be reconciled with existing scientific knowledge on the effect of forest management on species diversity, significantly impairing the usefulness of these factors for assessing improvement opportunities and increasing the risk of counterproductive decisions. The local effect on species of forest management is likely to be misrepresented by the average number of species in a given ecoregion. Successful consideration of biodiversity response in the context of forest management would require the integration of other approaches, such as site-specific studies. Potential improvements to the proposed method include further spatialization of the CFs, defining a range of forest management practices for which CFs would be defined, considering forest productivity, and defining CFs using a baseline that would encourage better practices even within a given existing management regime.

中文翻译：

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UNEP-SETAC 推荐的评估 LCA 生物多样性的因素是否实现了他们的承诺：美国生产的瓦楞纸箱案例研究

目的 我们测试了 UNEP-SETAC 生命周期倡议推荐的“潜在物种损失”的全球和基于生态区的平均特征因子 (CFs) 的有效性，与使用产品的土地竞争指标相比，以确定热点和改进机会。土地生命周期的主要用途是森林管理。方法 对于美国生产的普通瓦楞纸箱的案例研究，系统边界被定义为涵盖从森林管理到处置的所有生命周期阶段。纤维采购被区域化到美国生态区，并且（Chaudhary et al. Environ Sci Technol 49:9987–9995, 2015）应用了特定于生态区的 CF。美国平均 CF 被应用于其他后台进程。使用贡献分析确定热点，并使用情景评估改进机会。我们将结果与应用土地竞争指标的结果进行了比较，土地竞争指标通常用作 LCA 中生物多样性的代表。结果与讨论 森林管理被确定为瓦楞纸箱生命周期中使用最多土地的活动，允许定义两个潜在的改进机会：减少纤维消耗和加强森林管理。通过应用推荐的 CF，纤维采购也被确定为“潜在物种损失”的主要因素。CF 还允许确定生态区域，其中物种可能受森林管理和相关潜在改进机会的影响最大。讨论了分类群之间的权衡。在某些情况下，结果与应用土地竞争指标的结果相矛盾，在许多情况下，我们无法将获得的结果与现有的物种多样性和森林管理科学知识相协调。结论和建议 通过应用推荐的 CF 获得的结果并不总是与现有的关于森林管理对物种多样性影响的科学知识相一致，这显着削弱了这些因素在评估改进机会和增加适得其反决策的风险方面的有用性。当地对森林管理物种的影响很可能被给定生态区中物种的平均数量所歪曲。在森林管理背景下成功考虑生物多样性应对措施需要整合其他方法，例如特定地点的研究。对拟议方法的潜在改进包括进一步空间化 CF，定义将为其定义 CF 的一系列森林管理实践，考虑森林生产力，以及使用即使在给定的现有管理制度内也能鼓励更好实践的基线来定义 CF。