LCA of sustainable development of Eritrea

The aim of the study is to assess the environmental damage and economic cost of the development scenario created to meet the basic needs of the entire Eritrean population and trying to reduce as much as possible anthropogenic impacts on the environment. In addition a comparison between the proposed scenario with the actual one has been performed for this country. The functional unit is the "country system" Eritrea whose population is made up of 5,748E6 people. The consumption and the use of capital goods that are considered by the processes that describe the development of the country are reported to one year of life of the inhabitants. The LCA study has been carried out using the SimaPro 7.3.3 software and IMPACT 2002+ and ReCiPe Midpoint and Endpoint impact assessment methods. In order to evaluate the benefits of the development scenario, the HDI-Human Development Index has been introduced in the LCA analysis. In the system, the main activities necessary to satisfy the basic needs of the population (agriculture, livestock in the Primary Sector, water and housing), transport and communication and the waste management have been considered. In addition, the production of materials and energy not included in the processes of agriculture, transport and waste management have been considered into the process Secondary Sector. The industrial activities carried out in the Eritrean country, but whose products are already present in other processes, have been reported only as an economic and social benefit as well as it has been done for exports. With regard to imports it has been inventoried the production, transport of goods from the place of production to the place of use and the end of life wherever it happens. With these boundaries the LCA of different countries are complementary. Considering the Secondary Sector only the productions to be developed in the country and that are not present in other sectors have been reported. LCA analyses indicates that the total damage for the development scenario, calculated without the Human Development Index (HDI = 0.69019), is 6.24E6Pt. The HDI represents 63.62% of the total damage calculated without HDI which means that 63.62% of the environmental burden can be justified if benefits that development involves are taken into account. The results indicate as the primary sector and transport are the productive sectors of greater damage while the damage categories of greatest impact are Ecosystem Quality and Human Health.