Life Cycle Assessment in the Livestock and Derived Edible Products Sector

Abstract

We calculated monthly water stress indices for >11000 watersheds with global coverage. In comparison with annual assessments these indices show large differences in many loctions although the general spatial distribution of water scarcity remains quite stable. Analysing wheat and rice with monthly and annual indicators shows that the crop growing period has a considerable influence and shifting crop planting dates (or crops with different calendars) can help to relieve water stress. The main limitation of the improved temporal resolution is the lack of detail in quantifying inter-monthly natural and man-made storage effects. The produced maps and data allow better capturing of water scarcity with temporal resolution, but many issues are raised and further research is required.