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Can we estimate the global environmental damage caused by rice cultivation?

My work in agricultural economics involves life-cycle assessment (LCA) of staple crops. For rice, the environmental costs methane emissions, water depletion, arsenic mobilization are significant but spatially variable. Assigning a single global monetary value seems fraught with assumptions about discount rates, valuation methods for non-market goods, and system boundaries. What's the state of this effort?

 

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By Govind Answered 1 year ago

Providing a single, precise global figure is indeed methodologically fraught, but generating credible ranges is both feasible and necessary for policy. I've reviewed several major studies that use integrated assessment models. The key challenges are spatial heterogeneity water cost in Punjab is not the same as in the Mekong Delta and valuing non-CO2 greenhouse gases. I would recommend a meta-analysis approach: synthesize regional LCA studies that monetize impacts using consistent shadow pricing for carbon and water scarcity. This gives you a distribution of costs per ton of rice, which is more honest and useful for policymakers than a single, misleading average.

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