Determinação de um índice de substituição para recurso florestal madeireiro com abordagem na funcionalidade sob a perspectiva da avaliação de impacto do ciclo de vida (AICV)

Abstract

In the last decades there has been a growing change in the behavior of society with initiatives aimed at sustainability in several areas. One of the areas of great action in this sense is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which through its technique evaluates a product from its nature extraction to it final disposal. The LCA technique is divided into four phases: goal and scope definition; inventory analysis; impact assessment; and interpretation. This research is related to the third phase, in which the data collected in the previous phase are related to the impact categories of midpoint or endpoint aiming to evaluate the environmental damage in an Area of Protection (AoP). The AoP- Natural Resources still has few clear definitions, especially concerning biotic resources. In this context, the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) aims to identify factors related to the resources scarcity. The approach to resource substitution is being used in LCIA methods with the aim of minimizing natural resources scarcity damages. For this reason, the main objective of the present study was the development of a method with the purpose of obtaining a Substitution Index for wood, using a functional approach. To do so, the methodological procedure of this work was based on the principle that the proposed method is focused on identifying the classification of forest resources by means of their inherent functions and properties, followed by the selection of substitutes for such functions, identification of existing methods adaptation and finally the elaboration of a method to determine the possibility of replacement of the wood, using parameters based on the availability and price of the wood and its substitutes.The development this method was based on a method to determine the metals criticality, which has indicators related to the resources substitution. The data used for the development were acquired in international and free databases, which were evaluated according to their quality. As a result, substitution indexes were obtained for five functions of wood (wood charcoal, firewood, sawnwood, wood-based panels and wood pulp), by country and region. The results showed that the wood substitution is distinct for each function and for each region. In general, the possibility of replacing wood with other resources is not completely adequate, with rates mostly below 0.5 on a scale of 0 to 1. The method has been evaluated for its correlation with reality; the relation of the Substitution Index with its indicators; and its quality. In this way the development of this research could contribute with the availability of a quantitative method with potential for application in characterization models in the LCIA.