Optimising tree plantation land use in Brazil by analysing trade-offs between economic and environmental factors using multi-objective programming

Abstract

In order to meet the growing global demand for bioproducts, areas of forests planted for productive purposes tend to increase worldwide. However, there are several controversies about the possible negative impacts of such forests, such as invasive potential, influence on water balance and biodiversity, and competition with other types of land use. As a result, there is a need to optimize land use, in order to achieve improvements in terms of sustainability in the broadest sense. In this study, the environmental and economic performances of pine and eucalyptus forest production systems for multiple purposes are compared aiming an optimized allocation of land use in the Center-West Region of Brazil. Life cycle assessment, life cycle cost and analysis of financial and economic indicators were used to assess potential environmental and economic impacts, covering the agricultural and industrial phases of pine and eucalyptus forest systems managed for the production of cellulose and sawn wood and, for pine, the production of rosin and turpentine from the extraction of gumresin and by applying the kraft process. Subsequently, the TOPSIS multicriteria decision-making method was applied to rank production systems in different combinations of phases and criteria, and multi-objective optimization was used to allocate land use according to different restrictions of areas and efficiency. The adoption of cleaner energy sources and the use of more efficient machines, equipment and vehicles are the main solutions to improve the environmental and economic performance of the forestry sector. The production systems of pine for cellulose and pine for sawn wood, rosin and turpentine were identified as the best solutions to optimize land use. For this reason, they must be considered as alternatives for the expansion and diversification of the Brazilian forest productive chain.