ncertainty
over future fuel supplies and efforts to mitigate climate change are
fuelling the production of biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
Although using biofuels reduces greenhouse gas emissions, there are
growing concerns that widespread production could worsen present
environmental pressures and social inequality around the world,
particularly as land and crops are shifted from food crops to biofuel
feedstocks.
Biofuels are presently made from
agricultural products. Ethanol is derived from the fermentation of
sugar cane in the south and corn in temperate climates; biodiesel is
produced from palm oil in the tropics and canola, rapeseed, soybeans,
or sunflowers in the north. Deriving fuels from agriculture means that
the fuel source is renewable and this process contributes to the
capture of carbon dioxide (CO2)during the crop's growth period.
Cellulosic feedstocks derived from
Guayule used for biofuel production
(photo: http://www.yulex.com/products.html)
The food for fuel issue comes down to
the fact that biofuels are dependent on intensive agriculture, which
is increasingly the cause of greenhouse gas emissions (primarily due
to the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers), habitat destruction,
deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and changing social relations to
the land in the form of increasing rural-urban migration. If biofuels
are truly to become renewable fuels, they must address the current
unsustainable production patterns in agriculture for food and fuels.
In addition, growing food crops for
biofuels is only effective if present fossil fuel consumption is
reduced. According to the European Union's Environment Commissioner,
Stavros Dimas, "The only long-term sustainable solutions to the
energy challenge are to achieve dramatic, indispensable improvements
in energy efficiency and, at the same time, to expand renewable energy
sources." This statement was made recently at a high-profile
conference in Brussels titled "A Sustainable Path for Biofuels in
the EU" (http://www.transportenvironment.org/).
If reductions are not made in overall
fuel use, increasing pressure will be exerted on lands around the
world that are presently forested, under conservation, or in food
production to become croplands for biofuels. Although world hunger is
primarily a result of unequal access to and distribution of resources
and not a result of the world's capacity to produce food, biofuel
production can exacerbate this situation. Presently, soybean, corn,
and palm oil demand for biofuels is growing so rapidly, that prices
are rising and stocks for edible oils are decreasing (Reuters).
Rising food prices as a result of growing demand is a concern for
global food security.
Biofuel production will increasingly be
located in southern countries, since "the potential for biofuels
is particularly large in tropical countries, where high crop yields
and lower costs for land and labour-which dominate the cost of these
fuels-provide an economic advantage that is hard for countries in
temperate regions to match" (Worldwatch Institute, 2006).
Biofuel yields from feedstocks grown in
tropical climates compared with temperate crops (Worldwatch Institute,
2006: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4078).
Click on picture to enlarge
(Photo: Julia Ostertag)
For instance, British Petroleum has
announced it will fund a $9.4 million project by the Energy and
Resources Institute in Andhra Pradesh to produce biodiesel from
jatropha, a non-edible oilcrop. The project, expected to take 10
years, would involve cultivating jatropha on about 8,000 hectares
currently designated as "wasteland" (http://www.i-sis.org.uk/NBR.php).
In addition, Wilmar Holdings Ltd. in Indonesia, the world's
second-largest palm oil producing country, plans to develop another
3,000,000 hectares of forest into plantations in the next five years,
partly to meet biofuel demand. The company also has a joint venture
plan with Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), an American oilseed
processing company, to build a biodiesel plant in Singapore, but both
companies are still considering the project's feasibility (http://www.planetark.com/).
Increasing pressure to convert
"wastelands," forests, or even fallow fields into biofuel
feedstock plantations or field crops results in the release of large
amounts of carbon dioxide that is captured by the soils and the
biomass. According to the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements (IFOAM),
"One third of all carbon dioxide emissions comes from changes in
land use (forest clearing, shifting-cultivation and intensification of
agriculture). Approximately two thirds of methane and most of nitrous
oxide emissions originate from agriculture." Changing
conventional agricultural practices to include wider crop rotations,
cover crops, and natural means of fertilizing and managing pests and
weeds could improve biofuels' capacity to provide a sustainable fuel
source.
Although large scale projects are
promoted as beneficial to developing nations' economic development,
problems arise when they perpetuate colonial relations between the
First and Third World. For instance, banana and tea plantations and
even mines have been developed to provide the First World countries
with cheap resources, mostly without consideration for human rights or
environmental protection. Increasingly, non-governmental organizations
and governments are recognizing the need for certification and
standardization of biofuel production in order for the fuel to fulfill
its mandate as a sustainable, renewable resource. For instance, the
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil demonstrated how accrediting palm
oil, one of biofuel's key feedstocks, can improve its sustainability,
particularly through the reduction of tropical rainforest
deforestation (http://www.sustainable-palmoil.org).
Banana Plantation
(Photo: http://www.fortogden.com/)
With drastic reductions in fuel
consumption, biofuel production based on sustainable agricultural
practices and respect for human rights can develop into a sustainable
fuel source. To guarantee this, however, governments will be required
to implement policies that "…compel the biofuel industry to
maintain or improve current management practices of land, water, and
other resources," (Worldwatch Institute, 2006) and ensure strong
labour standards. Small-scale cooperative models of growing biofuel
crops sustainably or recycling waste vegetable oils for biofuel
production are steps toward ensuring the benefits from biofuels are
maintained in local communities, without jeopardizing food production
or the environment.
