INCIHUSA   20883
INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS HUMANAS, SOCIALES Y AMBIENTALES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Carbon and water foorprints of vineyards in Mendoza, Argentina
Autor/es:
CIVIT, B; CURADELLI, S; ARENA, AP
Lugar:
Coatzacoalcos
Reunión:
Conferencia; IVth International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment; 2011
Institución organizadora:
CADIS
Resumen:
Argentina is the world´s fifth largest wine producer and more than 70 per cent of the vintages come from the Mendoza region. Although the revolution of the wine industry started at the turn of the 20th century, the switch to premium wine production took place in the last twenty years. This development allowed the local winemakers to conquer markets of demanding consumers for whom sustainability is more and more relevant. So it is important for wineries to calculate indicators such as carbon footprint not only to increase the sales but also to keep them. This situation has highlighted the need for environmental assessment of the production processes with appropriate indicators. In the wine industry the environmental impacts associated with the agricultural stage are related to the local climate, soil conditions, water availability and the chosen grape growing system. As Mendoza Province is located in an arid region, the use and consumption of water is crucial. This study presents the calculation of carbon and water footprints for vine cultivation in Mendoza, Argentina. It was considered only the agricultural activities such us land maintenance, irrigation, fertilization, prune, phytosanitary product application and grape harvest. Land preparation and planting were not taking into account because the research was made in an existing vineyard. SimaPro V. 7.2 was used for the calculation of carbon footprint. The water footprint was calculated following the method proposed by the Water Footprint Network. The obtained results make a significant contribution to the sustainable water use according to the local conditions and to the identification of the critical points where actions to diminish emissions of greenhouse gases should be taken