Indirect land-use change

Biofuels and indirect land use change effects the debate continues. In ... 

BiofuelsDigest (2009) Fat vs Fuel BiofiielsDigest Special Report on Indirect Land Use Change and Biofuel Emissions. BiofuelsDigest (27 March), n.p. 

According to the World Commission on Environment and Development (the so-called Bmndtland Commission), development can be defined sustainable when it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generafions to meet their own needs. Reading this definition, we can easily understand why biofuels are not free from sustainability problems. Phenomena such as indirect land use change (BLUC), deforestation, and displacement of agricultural production are only some examples in this regard. 

These indicators are a shortlist of the sustainability issues related to biofuels production and not all of them can be estimated with current life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies. For instance, none of the LCA studies discussed in the Uterature included ILUC (indirect land-use change that may displace existing agricultural activity) in the analysis (Humalisto, 2015). This specific problem remains a major unsolved factor for the assessment of the carbon footprint of biofuels as it is tightly Unked to deforestation, which endangers the local habitats and biodiversity. 

Humalisto, N., May 2015. Climate policy integration and governing indirect land-use changes—actors in the EU s biofuel policy-formulation. Land Use Policy 45, 150-158. 

Changes in land use triggered by anthropogenic as well as climate change can also have an indirect effect on quantitative runoff characteristics in alpine catchment areas. 

An example of an accident that has been attributed to an indirect mode change occurred while an A320 was landing in Bangalore, India [182], The pilot s selection of a lower altitude while the automation was in the altitude acquisition mode resulted in the activation of the open descent mode, where speed is controlled only by the pitch of the aircraft and the throttles go to idle. In that mode, the automation ignores any preprogrammed altitude constraints. To maintain pilot-selected speed without power, the automation had to use an excessive rate of descent, which led to the aircraft crashing short of the runway. 

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