Saturday, November 25, 2006

Report of the Week: Growing in the Greenhouse

This weeks report of the week is Growing in the Greenhouse by the World Resources Institute.

A very interesting an informative report that somehow managed to evade me for an entire year!
I`m reading it for what it has to say on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in asia and the growth in car travel, perticularly in China.

There is an audio summary on this report here.

This report explores an approach to reconciling development and climate
priorities, termed sustainable development policies and measures (SD-PAMs).


This approach was first put forward in this form by Winkler et al.
(2002) and describes policies and measures that are firmly within the national
sustainable development priorities of the host country, but through inclusion in
an international climate framework seeks to recognize, promote and support means of meeting these policy priorities on a lower-carbon trajectory.
The SD-PAMs


approach has been the subject of some discussion within the climate change
literature and has been presented as a component of a climate regime by the
Climate Action Network (2003), among others. It has thus entered the climate
policy vocabulary. However, a great deal of work remains to be done to explore
the operational implications of SD-PAMs as part of an international policy
framework.


This report is a contribution to that effort. We first discuss the
merits and limitations of SD-PAMs (Chapter 1) and how an SD-PAMs pledging
process might fit within the international policy context (Chapter 2). We then
examine in detail four case studies of policy options in developing countries:
Brazil’s use of biofuels for transport (Chapter 3), efficient urban transport in
China (Chapter 4), options for rural electrification in India (Chapter 5) and
carbon capture and storage in South Africa (Chapter 6).

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8 Comments:

At 3:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

'Growing in the Greenhouse' sets out Brazil's ethanol indutry as an example. If this is an example for climate-friendly growth then I'd rather not see any of it. Brazil's sugar ethanol sector has driven the destruction of the Atlantic Forest (not over 90% destroyed - a biodiversity hotspot, according to WWF). the Cerrado (the most biodiverse savannah in the world, now mostly destroyed) and the Pantanal wetlands. Brazilian sugar is very profitable indeed, with the most appalling working conditions (reports of slavery and child labour, women being told they must get sterilised or lose their jobs, terrible health impacts), water pollution is awful, air pollution causes respiratory problems as all the vegetations is burnt to grow the sugar. Yet at so many UN Conferences, other countries are told they should emulate this example. And the UK have partnership with Brazil to implement similar policies in southern Africa.

Almuth

 
At 4:20 PM, Blogger Calvin Jones said...

Hi Almuth,

As always, i`m very glad to hear your comments, i'm know very little about the details of ethanol in Brazil, all i have heard has been pretty posotive.

From what i've read about the amazon there seem to be a range of drivers to deforestation, with sugar cane not being one of them but i`m not sure about the Atlantic Forest and Pantanal.

In the case of the Atlantic forest I have read a WWF report about the destruction due to soya, mentions of coffe and subsistance agriculture where also made.

If you could send me a reference in relation to this statement then i would be very interested:

"Brazil's sugar ethanol sector has driven the destruction of the Atlantic Forest (not over 90% destroyed - a biodiversity hotspot, according to WWF)"

 
At 6:42 PM, Blogger Calvin Jones said...

Calvin
I'll get back to you on this - I am away from home right now. But as an
interim reply: sugar cane was responsible for a good part of the
destruction of over 90 % of the Atlantic Forest, yes, but it had nothing
to do with biofuel as the forest was gone long before the cane producers
started producing ethanol in the late 1970s
There are other issues about ethanol from sugar as a biofuel but the
destruction of the forest is not one of them

Best wishes
Robin Le Breton
Director
Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center

 
At 7:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here is a good background article:

http://www.landaction.org/display.php?article=405

Also, see here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3703704.stm

And here: http://www.birdfair.org.uk/pp/gold/viewGold.asp?IDType=Page&ID=9611

Sorry I wrote this a bit quickly: I didn't mean that ethanol was behind the destruction of 90% of the Atlantic Forest, but that sugar plantations were one of the drivers behind it and ethanol has accounted for a sizeable share of the market for Brazilian sugar (40% at present, I believe).

I'm interested in what Robert le Breton says about deforestation in the Atlantic Forest not being linked to sugar ethanol. I have read in various sources that deforestation has been ongoing and a fair proportion of it is for land conversion to sugar cane. See here, for example:

http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/where_we_work/atlantic_forest/full_strategy.xml

I don't see how one can distinguish between 'deforestation for ethanol' and 'deforestation for non-ethanol sugar plantations' - ultimately the marekt is driven by overall demand and ethanol is responsible for a large market share.

Almuth

 
At 10:02 AM, Blogger Calvin Jones said...

Note: Rhett Defers to "someone on the ground". This is not a the case of Almuth, although i`m sure her work is well researched.


Hi Calvin,

To be honest I don't know a whole lot about the specific impact of sugar cane biofuel in Brazil on forests, but I would think that it would likely put pressure on forests either directly or more likely, indirectly by pushing poor farmers to cut trees for subsistence agriculture since "good" land is used by sugar cane farmers and cattle ranchers. I don't know if current sugar cane production is occurring on newly cleared land -- I would have to defer to someone who knows the situation on the ground.

Biofuels in tropical countries (i.e. soybeans in the Amazon rainforest and cerrado, and oil palm in southeast Asia) often involve these issues (actually the same would probably be true outside the tropics if we hadn't already cleared our wildlands for agriculture). Biofuels certainly have positive attributes, especially when they are developed on already degraded lands, but there are serious concerns when natural ecosystems are converted for their production. In these cases do the benefits of using biofuels versus fossil fuels outweigh biodiversity loss and disruption of ecological services? Probably not, though I am not familiar enough with the situation to know for sure. The social issues associated with plantations ("virtual slavery") in some parts of the world are particularly alarming as well.

If one could ensure that biofuel production occurred only on degraded lands and waste/pollution/effluent could be minimized/reused then I think there's a lot to be said for bioethanol. I don't think we're there yet though.

Does this answer your question?

Cheers,

Rhett

 
At 8:56 PM, Blogger Calvin Jones said...

Dear Calvin,



Thank you for your inquiry. Below are several links to recent Earth Policy Institute publications concerning biofuels:



http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update55.htm

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2005/Update49.htm



Lester Brown also wrote about ethanol in his most recent book, Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2006), which is online at http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm. See Chapter 2 in particular.



Please let me know if you have any further questions.



Best,

Liz Mygatt



************************

Elizabeth Mygatt

Earth Policy Institute

1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 403

Washington, DC 20036

USA

 
At 12:54 AM, Blogger Calvin Jones said...

Robin made good on her word and sent me this email as a followup.
---------
Calvin:
well, just to finish the conversation: there are some other issues about
ethanol that need to be considered:
(1) if you take into account the economic value of the fossil fuels used in
the production of sugar cane - the tractors in the fields, the fuel costs
of the factory etc etc - does the calculation still come out with a plus
for ethanol? Personally I am not sure because different people use
different figures and get different results, so it is a question that needs
to be answered.
(2) there is a socio-economic issue about land tenure in the Northeast of
Brazil where many of the big sugar estates are. They occupy a lot of land
so that there is no space for small scale family agriculture in these
areas. The question in economic terms is which production system is more
productive 0 large scale sugar estate, or small scale subsistence
agriculture? And if it is the former, what are the options for the
resulting landless people of the area?
(3) like soy beans, withe new higher prices, farmers are finding sugar
attractive in areas where it wasn't attractive before and therefore wan to
move into areas that may not be suitable for other ecological reasons, One
example is the Pantanal where the sugar industry wants to build some sugar
factories, Bit it is a highly sensitive ecosystem, particularly sensitive
to water pollution, and sugar factories are potentially big polluters, They
should be allowed there, or not?

We don't want well intentioned but ill informed environmentalist in other
countries disrupting our economy by boycotting our products without
understanding the issues - we have already had experience of that and it
wasn't funny. Actually, we can't export much ethanol to the US because of
trade barriers, but of course we are campaigning to get these removed. But
if you're interested in the issues, you should be aware that there are
complex issues which are not always well explained in the press.

Best wishes

Robin



Centro de Pesquisas e Conservação Iracambi
Caixa Postal No.1
Rosário da Limeira
36878-000 Minas Gerais
Brasil

 
At 4:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Calvin asked me if I would like to add to this post. I am not an expert on ethanol in Brazil but nevertheless here are a few things that come to mind.

1. According to information presented at a United Nations Environment Program workshop, deforestation is causing about 20% of annual emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. A study published by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences found that over the last 15 years, Brazil and Indonesia were the largest contributors to deforestation. I do not know if the recent deforestation in Brazil has anything to do with ethanol production.

2. In the United States where I live, ethanol is starting to become very popular. Currently, the reasons have mostly to do with the cost of oil, the economic boost ethanol production gives to farmers who grow corn and the desire for energy independence. In the future, it is very likely that the potential for ethanol and other biofuels to help fight global warming will also contribute to ethanols growing popularity. I have heard some of our policiticans say that we should drop or relax restrictions on imported sugar which could be used to produce ethanol (and for other uses). While it is most likely that the U.S. will look for domestically produced feedstock to make ethanol, it is not impossible that we would look to import feedstock as well. If at some point the U.S. drops or relaxes restriction on imported sugar, that could create new demand for Brazilian sugar. If that happened,while it would benefit the Brazilian sugar growers, it may aggravate the Brazil deforestation problem . Biofuels are becoming increasingly popular all around the world and countries that have limited agricultural capacity (e.g. Japan) might look to import feedstocks like Brazilian sugar for ethanol production.

3. What all this suggests to me is that, while producing ethanol (or other biofuels) from farm products has many benefits, including environmental benefits such as combating global warming, it requires careful planning to do it right.

Is anybody doing this careful planning?

 

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