LCA Towards Sustainable Agriculture: The Case Study of Cupuaçu Jam from Agroforestry

Appropriate design of agricultural systems for the regeneration of deforested lands in critical areas, like the Amazon, may be an effective action to restore forest ecosystem functions and to mitigate biodiversity loss and climate change. Among the possible strategies, agroforestry may represent a viable trade-off between economic and environmental aspects. In this study, the production of a jam made of fruits from agroforestry was analysed from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective. The agroforestry system investigated was implemented in a reforested area of the Peruvian Amazon. A cradle-to-grave approach, from the cultivation phase to the end-of-life of the jam, was adopted. Additionally to LCA, the focus is on the agricultural phase and, in particular, on the comparison of alternative agro-ecosystems from an environmental viewpoint. Therefore, LCA indicators are integrated with biodiversity indicators to account for the ecological dimension. Preliminary results highlight the benefits of producing jam from fruits harvested in an area of the Amazon reforested via agroforestry, as well as the high variability of environmental impacts due to the differences in the alternative agricultural systems considered.