Agro-food metabolism and ecological footprint of food as indicators of urban sustainability

With the theoretical background and the research precedents developed by the IP of the project and its collaborators in the field of socioeconomic metabolism and ecological footprint (Carpintero, 2005, Carpintero, 2006, Carpintero, 2014, Sastre, Carpintero and Lomas, 2015; Donato, Lomas and Carpintero, 2015; Huerga, 2014), it is intended to make a diagnosis about the agro-food metabolism and the ecological footprint (water, carbon and territorial) of Valladolid’s food consumption.

The objectives to be achieved are the following:

1. To estimate the main input and output flows that make up Valladolid’s agro-food metabolism, with special attention to fresh food flows (quantity, characterization and origin).

2. To estimate food waste and losses throughout the food chain generated in the city according to type and quantity.

3. To estimate the territorial, hydrological and carbon footprint of the average diet of the inhabitants of Valladolid.

4. Characterization and cartographic identification of changes in land use and evolution of urban and peri-urban agrarian ecosystems of the municipal area and its dependent surroundings .

5. To estimate the potential and real agro-ecological use of the municipality and its dependent sorroundings, as well as of the self-supply index under different scenarios.

Researchers: Óscar Carpintero and Pedro L. Lomas.