un-used arable land evaluation in romania for low indirect impact biofuel production

Un-used arable land evaluation in Romania for low indirect impact biofuel production

IRINA CALCIU, MIRCEA MIHALACHE, SORINA DUMITRU, OLGA VIZITIU

Faculty of Agriculture University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine

59 Marasti Bld., 011464, Bucharest ROMANIA

[email protected] http://www.agro-bucuresti.ro Abstract: A large-scale biofuel production needs large land requirements, since most biofuel feedstock today are produced from crops that need productive land. The biofuel feedstock demand and the associated land requirements can have direct and indirect impacts, such as direct land use change (LUC) and indirect land use change (ILUC). The European Union Renewable Energy Directive and Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) include criteria for the prevention of unwanted direct land use change of feedstock production for biofuels. But these criteria do not focus on indirect land use change (ILUC). In order to identify low impacts of indirect land use changes for biofuel production low indirect impact biofuel (LIIB) methodology has been developed. The methodology comprises four ILUC mitigation solutions, one of them being that of biofuel feedstocks production on unused land with low carbon stocks and low biodiversity values. In this paper it is analyzed the potential for biofuel production on unused land in Romania. For this basic GIS layers were used related to administrative units boundaries (NUTS5, NUTS 3), land cover, special protected areas (SPA), sites of community interests (SCI) included in NATURA 2000, High Natural Value (HNV) area, hydrography, typical emissions for biomass cultivation according with Directive 2009/28/CE, output of the last Agriculture Census (2011) related to the percentage of un-used land from total arable. The methodology consisted in 7 successive steps. The paper presents the results obtained within each step attained. It was evaluated the arable land included in small size herbaceous fields (SSH) or in a mixture between small size and medium size herbaceous fields (SSH/SMH, SMH/SSH), that is not included in special protected area (SPA/SCI), High Natural Value sites, 200m-buffer zones around lakes and reservoirs and has the specific emission coefficients below the threshold included in Directive 2009/28/CE. This type of arable land is most probable not-cultivated. The area of this land was overlapped with the percentage of unused arable land in 2011 from total arable according with the Agriculture Census. The small size and medium/small size herbaceous fields in counties having over 10% un-used land was established as potential area for Low Indirect Impact on Land Use for biofuel production. Key-Words: biofuel, low indirect impact land use change, unused land, production 1 Introduction

Nowadays, climate change occurs and the energy demand increases. For these reasons there is a need for implementing non-fossil energy technologies. It is expected that the use of biomass as a source of sustainable energy will increase worldwide in the future decades. Besides these, the biofuels can play an important role in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

A large-scale biofuel production needs large land requirements, since most biofuel feedstock today are produced from crops that need productive land. Several studies show that there are large potential for a sustainable biofuel production on land [1], [2]. The biofuel feedstock demand and the associated land requirements can have direct and indirect impacts.

One of the main direct impacts is direct land use change (LUC). This occurs when there is a change in land use of an area, for example, from grazing land to crop land. This can affects biodiversity, carbon stocks and livelihoods. The direct land use change can be relatively easily to control because it can be attributed to a party that caused it. Also the European Union Renewable Energy Directive (RED) [3] and Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) [4] include criteria for the prevention of unwanted direct land use change of feedstock production for biofuel.

Biofuel feedstock production can have unwanted consequences outside the production chain. These are indirect impacts, which cannot be directly attributed to a particular operation. One of the main indirect impacts is indirect land use change (ILUC).

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The criteria established in the European legislation do not focus on indirect land use change (ILUC). Many studies estimate that biofuels from most feedstock commonly used today have ILUC emissions associated with them and these emissions are of a magnitude that seriously threatens the greenhouse gas savings potential of biofuels [5], [6], [7]. Also because the additional biofuel production mainly comes from agricultural commodity feedstocks, there is a risk of increasing the human commodity prices, which can have indirect impacts on food security.

Different solutions have been proposed to reduce the risk of indirect impacts of biofuel production, including indirect land use change and other indirect impacts [2], [8], [9].

One of these solutions refers to biomass production on “unused land” – land that does not provide provisioning services (defined as products obtained from ecosystems, incuding food, fibre, fuel, natural medicines, water and timber [10].

Because this does not displace other human uses of the land, it does not cause indirect impacts. Extending the production on unused land leads to a direct land use change (LUC), but it is controllable and can be limited to the areas where impacts are acceptable.

In order to identify low impacts of indirect land use changes for biofuel production, a low indirect impact biofuel (LIIB) methodology has been developed. This is a practical and cost-effective methodology which comprises four ILUC mitigation solutions: biofuel feedstocks produced on unused land with low carbon stocks and low biodiversity values, in countries with an excess or growing amount of unused arable land; biofuel feedstocks produced from yield increases, where the producer must demonstrate yield increases above a given baseline; biofuel feedstocks produced by increasing the overall system efficiency through integration of sugarcane and cattle (other integration models will be added to the LIIB methodology in the future); biofuels produced from end-of-life products (waste), which would normally be disposed of and which is not used for alternative purposes in the region.

In this paper it is analyzed the potential for biofuel production on unused land in Romania.

2 Data and methodology used

Low indirect impact biofuel (LIIB) methodology was used for deriving the potential areas for un-used arable land in Romania.

2.1 Data used The methodology for deriving the potential areas

for un-used arable land in Romania for low indirect impact biofuel production uses as the basic GIS layers: - Administrative Units boundaries : NUTS5 -

communa, NUTS 3 - county; - Land Cover/Land Use inventory by remote

sensing according with FAO-LCCS methodology using ortophotograms from 2011 (FAO/TCP/ROM/280 project). According with this classification system the legend for the layers is presented in Annex 1;

- Special protected areas and Sites of Community interests included in NATURA 2000 network provided by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Changes;

- High Natural Value Areas derived from FAO-LCCS layer considering the mapping units with a complex interrelation between small size arable fields, pasture/hayfields and small groups of trees;

- Hydrography – lakes with a buffer zone of 200 m - Typical emissions for biomass cultivation

according with Directive 2009/28/CE. Typical emissions for biomass cultivation were evaluated in a Report for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for various biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol) produced from different crops (rapeseed, wheat, maize, sunflower, soyabeans, potatoes, sugar beet) based on the long-time average (climate in a 10’ x 10’ longitude x latitude grid for the period 1961-2010) of potential crop yields as predicted for each soil mapping unit from Soil-GIS of Romania (SIGSTAR, scale 1:200,000) by ROIMPEL simulation model, using “Ecofys Greenhouse gas calculator for biofuels”. To these layers was added the output of the

last Agriculture Census (2011) related to the percentage of un-used land from total arable at county levels. 2.1 Methodology

The methodology consisted in 7 succesive steps. 2.1.1 Evaluation of total arable land in Romania

Total arable land in Romania was defined and evaluated using FAO-LCCS layer. Total arable land area was calculated. 2.1.2 Evaluation of land area that is not included in SPA or SCI site

The arable land layer (step 2.1.1) was intersected with the Special Protected Areas (SPA) and Sites of Community Interest (SCI). The SPA and SCI poligons from the total arable land were removed.


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The arable land area that is not included in any SPA or SCI site was calculated. 2.1.3 Evaluation of the potential High Natural Value areas

The High Natural Value areas were evaluated by using the legend of FAO-LCCS layer. High Natural Values are defined as the following land use combinations from the FAO-LCCS layer: GDN/GRL; GRL/CST/SSH; GRL/SHR; GRL/SHR/TRS; GRL/TRS/SHR; ORD/GRL; SSH/GRL; TRS/GRL; TRS/SHR/GRL. The High Natural Value (HNV) sites were extracted from the Arable land layer defined at step 2.1.2. The arable land area that is not included in any SPA and SCI site (step 2.1.2) and in High Natural Value (HNV) sites was calculated. 2.1.4 Evaluation of the buffer area (200 m) around the lakes The layer generated in step 2.1.3 was intersected with the layer for buffer area (200 m) around the lakes considered as a good habitat for birds. Polighons included in the lakes’ buffer zone were extracted from the layer derived in step 2.1.3. The arable lands area that is not included in any SPA and SCI site (step 2.1.2), in High Natural Value sites (step 2.1.3) and in lakes’ buffer zone was calculated. 2.1.5 Evaluation of typical emissions for biomass cultivation according with Directive 2009/28/CE

The layer generated in step 2.1.4 was intersected with the layer of typical emissions for biomass cultivation according with Directive 2009/28/CE corresponding to biofuel from rapeseed. Only the points having typical emissions less than 32 g CO2 eq MJ-1 was selected. The arable land area that is not included in any SPA and SCI site (step 2.1.2), in HNV sites (step 2.1.3), in lakes’ buffer zone (step 2.1.4) and have typical emissions for biomass production in order to be in line with Directive 2009/28/CE was calculated. 2.1.6 Evaluation of the most suitable parcels for unused land

The most suitable parcels for unused land are small size to medium size herbaceous field (SSH, SSH/MSH, MSH/SSH according with FAO-LCCS classification). These polighons were select from the arable layer derived in step 2.1.5 and the arable land area that has a high potential to be un-used was calculated. 2.1.7 Evaluation of unused arable land area at county level

The data provided by Agriculture Census were used for evaluation of unused arable land area at county level (as percentage from total arable land). It was selected the arable land derived at step 2.1.6 for the counties having more than 10% of total

arable land un-used. These polighons have the maximum probability to be un-used, having a potential for Low Indirect Impact on Land Use for Biofuels Production.

3. Results According to step 2.1.1, figure 1 shows the FAO-

LCCS based arable land of Romania. The total arable land of Romania is 8,002,434 ha.

Fig. 1 Arable land – Romania

Following step 2.1.2, figure 2 and 3 show the protected area (sites of community interest, special protected areas) in Romania.

Fig. 2 Sites of Community Interest (SCI)

Fig. 3 Special Protected Areas (SPA)


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In the same order, figure 4 shows the arable area that is included/not included in protected area.

Fig. 4 Arable land included in SPA/SCI and arable

land not included in protected area (Arable-SPA/SCI)

The area of arable land that is not included in protected area is 7,455,545 ha.

Following the step 2.1.3, figure 5 shows the High Natural Value (HNV) sites in Romania.

Fig. 5 High Natural Value sites in Romania

Figure 6 shows the arable land that is not included in any SPA/SCI or HNV sites. The total area of this land category is 7,375,669 ha.

Fig. 6 Arable land that is not included in SPA/SCI

and in HNV sites

Following the step 2.1.4, figure 7 shows the lakes and water reservoirs in Romania.

Fig. 7 Lakes and water reservoirs in Romania Figure 8 shows the arable land that is not

included in any SPA/SCI, HNV sites and buffer zones (200m) around the lakes and water reservoirs. The total area of this land category is 7,253,626 ha.

Fig. 8 Arable land not included in SPA/SCI, HNV

sites and buffer zones around lakes According to step 2.1.5, specific emissions from

crop cultivation (winter oilseed rape) for biofuel production as many year averages considering site-specific potential crop yields are included in fig. 9.

Fig. 9 Specific emissions from crop cultivation

(winter oilseed rape) for biofuel production


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Figure 10 shows the arable land that is not included in any protected area (SPA/SCI), High Natural Value (HNV) sites, buffer zones (200m) around the lakes and water reservoirs and has specific emissions from crop cultivation (winter oilseed rape) for biofuel production below the threshold included in Directive 2009/28/CE. The total area of this land category is 6,598,160 ha.

Fig. 10 Arable land not included in SPA/SCI, HNV sites, 200m-buffer zones around lakes and reservoirs and has the specific emission coefficients below the

threshold included in Directive 2009/28/CE According to step 2.1.6, figure 11 shows the

arable land included in small size herbaceous fields (SSH) or in a mixture between small size and medium size herbaceous fields (SSH/SMH, SMH/SSH) that is not included in special protected area (SPA/SCI), High Natural Value sites (HNV), 200m-buffer zones around lakes and water reservoirs and has the specific emission coefficients below the threshold included in Directive 2009/28/CE.

Fig.11 Arable land included in SSH or in

SSH/SMH, SMH/SSH that is not included in SPA/SCI, HNV sites, buffer zones around lakes and

reservoirs and has specific emission coefficients below the threshold from Directive 2009/28/CE

This type of arable land is most probable not-cultivated. The area covered by this type of arable land is 2,678,556 ha.

Following the step 2.1.7, the percentage of un-used arable land in 2011 from total arable according with the Agriculture Census is shown in figure 12. Counties with the highest percentage are mountain and hilly area.

Fig. 12 Un-used arable land percentage from total

arable per county The small size and medium/small size

herbaceous fields in counties having over 10% un-used land (figure 13) are the potential area for Low Indirect Impact on Land Use for biofuels production. The area of this land is 1,190,856 ha.

Fig. 13 High potential area for as potential area for

Low Indirect Impact on Land Use for biofuels production

4 Conclusion

The global increase in greenhouse gas emissions is largely caused by the use of fossil fuels (IPCC, 2007). Because of this, there is a need for implementing non-fossil energy technologies.


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Biofuels is one of the options, especially for the transport sector in which lowering GHG emissions is relatively difficult.

Biofuels for the EU market have to comply with the existing legislation, European Union Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) which include criteria for the prevention of unwanted direct land use change of feedstock production for biofuel.

The current EU sustainability criteria for biofuels focus on direct impacts and do not aim to address negative indirect impacts such as Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC). ILUC occurs when existing cropland is used for biofuel feedstock production, displacing previous land use and as a result increasing the risk that non-agricultural land is converted into cropland elsewhere. ILUC can therefore lead to higher GHG-emissions and loss of biodiversity.

In order to identify low impacts of indirect land use changes for biofuel production, a low indirect impact biofuel (LIIB) methodology has been developed. This is a practical and cost-effective methodology which comprises four ILUC mitigation solutions, one of them being the biofuel feedstocks produced on unused land with low carbon stocks and low biodiversity values, in countries with an excess or growing amount of unused arable land.

The methodology was applied in order to evaluate the potential for biofuel production on unused land in Romania. The methodology consisted in 7 successive steps. In first step, the total arable land area of Romania was evaluated. In following six step the total arable land area of Romania was intersected with different GIS layers: administrative units boundaries (NUTS5, NUTS 3), land cover, special protected areas (SPA) and sites of community interests (SCI) included in NATURA 2000, High Natural Value (HNV) area, hydrography, typical emissions for biomass cultivation according with Directive 2009/28/CE, output of the last Agriculture Census (2011) related to the percentage of un-used land from total arable.

The total arable land that is not included in any protected area (SPA/SCI), High Natural Value (HNV) sites, buffer zones (200m) around the lakes and water reservoirs and has specific emissions from crop cultivation (winter oilseed rape) for biofuel production below the threshold included in Directive 2009/28/CE is 6,598,160 ha.

The arable land included in small size herbaceous fields (SSH) or in a mixture between

small size and medium size herbaceous fields (SSH/SMH, SMH/SSH) that is not included in special protected area (SPA/SCI), High Natural Value sites (HNV), 200m-buffer zones around lakes and water reservoirs and has the specific emission coefficients below the threshold included in Directive 2009/28/CE is 2,678,556 ha.

The percentage of un-used arable land in 2011 from total arable according with the Agriculture Census shows that counties with the highest percentage are mountain and hilly area.

The small size and medium/small size herbaceous fields in counties having over 10% un-used land are the potential area for Low Indirect Impact on Land Use for biofuels production. The area of this land is 1,190,856 ha.

References: [1] WWF and Ecofys, The Energy Report, 100%

Renewable Energy by 2050, WWF, Gland, Switzerland, 2011.

[2] Ecofys, Winrock, Mitigating indirect impacts of biofuel production: Case studies and methodology, Report prepared for the UK Renewable Fuels Agency, 2009.

[3] Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC. [4] Fuel Quality Directive 2009/30/EC. [5] Laborde, Assessing the Land Use Change

Consequences of European Biofuel Policies, International Food and Policy Research Institute, Washington D.C., 2011.

[6] Bauen, Chudziak, Vad, Watson, A causal descriptive approach to modelling the GHG emissions associated with the indirect land use impacts of biofuels, E4Tech, London, 2010.

[7] Edwards, Mulligan, Marelli, Indirect Land Use Change from increased biofuels demand: Comparison of models and results for marginal biofuels production from different feedstocks, JRC Institute for Energy, Ispra, 2010.

[8] Ecofys, Responsible Cultivation Areas: Indentification and certification of feedstock production with a low risk of indirect effects,Available at: www.ecofys.com/en/publication/17, 2010.

[9] Ecofys, Land use requirements of different EU biofuel scenarios in 2020: Contribution to the Gallagher review on the indirect effects of biofuel production, Report prepared for the UK Renewable Fuels Agency, 2008.

[10] Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis, Island Press, Washington DC, 2005.


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Annex 1 - Land Cover/Land Use inventory by remote sensing according with FAO-LCCS methodology using ortophotograms from 2011 (FAO/TCP/ROM/280 project)


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un-used arable land evaluation in romania for low indirect impact biofuel production

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