The jatropha bush seems an unlikely prize in the hunt for alternative energy, being an ugly, fast-growing and poisonous weed. Hitherto, its use to humanity has principally been as a remedy for constipation. Very soon, however, it may be powering your car.
Almost overnight, the unloved Jatropha curcushas become an agricultural and economic celebrity, with the discovery that it may be the ideal biofuel crop, an alternative to fossil fuels for a world dangerously dependent on oil supplies and deeply alarmed by the effects of global warming.
The hardy jatropha, resilient to pests and resistant to drought, produces seeds with up to 40 per cent oil content. When the seeds are crushed, the resulting jatropha oil can be burnt in a standard diesel car, while the residue can also be processed into biomass to power electricity plants.
As the search for alternative energy sources gathers pace and urgency, the jatropha has provoked something like a gold rush. Last week BP announced that it was investing almost £32 million in a jatropha joint venture with the British biofuels company D1 Oils.
Even Bob Geldof has stamped his cachet on jatropha, by becoming a special adviser to Helius Energy, a British company developing the use of jatropha as an alternative to fossil fuels. Lex Worrall, its chief executive, says: "Every hectare can produce 2.7 tonnes of oil and about 4 tonnes of biomass. Every 8,000 hectares of the plant can run a 1.5 megawatt station, enough to power 2,500 homes."
Jatropha grows in tropical and subtropical climates. Whereas other feed-stocks for biofuel, such as palm oil, rape seed oil or corn for ethanol, require reasonable soils on which other crops might be grown, jatropha is a tough survivor prepared to put down roots almost anywhere.
Scientists say that it can grow in the poorest wasteland, generating topsoil and helping to stall erosion, but also absorbing carbon dioxide as it grows, thus making it carbon-neutral even when burnt. A jatropha bush can live for up to 50 years, producing oil in its second year of growth, and survive up to three years of consecutive drought.
In India about 11 million hectares have been identified as potential land on which to grow jatropha. The first jatropha-fuelled power station is expected to begin supplying electricity in Swaziland in three years. Meanwhile, companies from Europe and India have begun buying up land in Africa as potential jatropha plantations.
Jatropha plantations have been laid out on either side of the railway between Bombay and Delhi, and the train is said to run on more than 15 per cent biofuel. Backers say that the plant can produce four times more fuel per hectare than soya, and ten times more than corn. "Those who are working with jatropha," Sanju Khan, a site manager for D1 Oils, told the BBC, "are working with the new generation crop, developing a crop from a wild plant — which is hugely exciting."
Jatropha, a native of Central America, was brought to Europe by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century and has since spread worldwide, even though, until recently, it had few uses: malaria treatment, a windbreak for animals, live fencing and candle-mak-ing. An ingredient in folk remedies around the world, it earned the nickname "physic nut", but its sap is a skin irritant, and ingesting three untreated seeds can kill a person.
Jatropha has also found a strong supporter in Sir Nicholas Stern, the government economist who emphasised the dangers of global warming in a report this year. He recently advised South Africa to "look for biofuel technologies that can be grown on marginal land, perhaps jatropha".
However, some fear that in areas dependent on subsistence farming it could force out food crops, increasing the risk of famine.
Some countries are also cautious for other reasons: last year Western Australia banned the plant as invasive and highly toxic to people and animals.
Yet a combination of economic, climatic and political factors have made the search for a more effective biofuel a priority among energy companies. New regulations in Britain require that biofuels comprise 5 per cent of the transport fuel mix by 2010, and the EU has mandated that by 2020 all cars must run on 20 per cent biodiesel. Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 80 per cent compared with petroleum diesel, according to the US Energy Department.
Under the deal between BP and D1, £80 million will be invested in jatropha over the next five years, with plantations in India, southern Africa and SouthEast Asia. There are no exact figures for the amount of land already under jatropha cultivation, but the area is expanding fast. China is planning an 80,000-acre plantation in Sichuan, and the BPD1 team hopes to have a million hectares under cultivation over the next four years.
Jatropha has long been prized for its medicinal qualities. Now it might just help to cure the planet.
- D1 Oils, the UK company leading the jatropha revolution, is growing 430,000 acres of the plant to feed its biodiesel operation on Teesside — 44,000 acres more than three months ago, after a huge planting programme in India. It has also planted two 1,235-acre trial sites this year in West Java, Indonesia. If successful, these will become a 25,000-acre plantation. Elloitt Mannis, the chief executive, says that the aim is to develop energy "from the earth to the engine".
Jatropha: costs and benefits
- Jatropha needs at least 600mm (23in) of rain a year to thrive. However, it can survive three consecutive years of drought by dropping its leaves
- It is excellent at preventing soil erosion, and the leaves that it drops act as soil-enriching mulch
- The plant prefers alkaline soils
- The cost of 1,000 jatropha saplings (enough for one acre) in Pakistan is about £50, or 5p each
- The cost of 1kg of jatropha seeds in India is the equivalent of about 7p. Each jatropha seedling should be given an area two metres square.
- 20 per cent of seedlings planted will not survive
- Jatropha seedlings yield seeds in the first year after plantation
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Pinhão-manso pode ser liberado nos próximos dias
QUINTA, 18 OUTUBRO 200
O Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA) apresentou uma possível solução para liberar o plantio e venda de sementes de pinhão-manso (Jatropha curcas L.). Em reunião realizada ontem (17) com pesquisadores da Embrapa, representantes da indústria de biodiesel e plantadores, o ministério sinalizou a possibilidade de inscrever a espécie no Registro Nacional de Cultivares (RNC).
O registro, que seria apenas como espécie e não como cultivar, ainda precisa ser validado pela área jurídica do ministério, mas a expectativa dos presentes no encontro é que haja um desfecho favorável nos próximos dias.
Se aprovada, a solução contornaria o problema que veio à tona há um mês e meio, quando a BiodieselBR.com noticiou que sem registro no RNC o cultivo do pinhão-manso fica proibido.
A notícia da proibição pegou de surpresa produtores e usineiros que já vinham investindo no plantio da oleaginosa.
“Resolvemos o problema no curto prazo. [A decisão] coloca todo mundo na legalidade”, frisa Mike Lu, presidente da Associação Brasileira de Plantadores de Pinhão-Manso (ABPPM).
A surpresa dos senadores veio quando mostrei que a lei proíbe o plantio de pinhão-manso no Brasil
Segundo Lu, o registro como espécie não dá aos produtores o direito de receber financiamentos, o que só ocorrerá quando o MAPA fizer o registro da cultivar. Um pedido de registro feito pela Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais (Epamig) está sob análise no ministério.
Além disso, segundo a proposta de liberação, a venda de sementes só seria autorizada se produtor e comprador assinarem um termo de compromisso a ser elaborado pelo MAPA. A medida serviria para deixar as partes cientes de que, para o ministério, faltam ainda informações importantes sobre o cultivo da planta.
O argumento da falta de informações irrita os usineiros, que acreditam no potencial do pinhão-manso para produzir biodiesel. “Esse é um problema do governo, que interrompeu várias vezes as pesquisas com a planta”, ataca Francisco Barreto, presidente da Bionasa, com sede em Porangatu (GO). “A maior parte das usinas já fomenta o plantio. O governo deveria ser mais rápido [na liberação] para dar confiabilidade a esse investimento”, afirma.
Para Barreto, o pinhão-manso “é prioridade absoluta.” Segundo ele, a Bionasa fez acordos de pesquisas sobre a oleaginosa com a Embrapa e universidades. A empresa fechará 2007 com 3.700 hectares plantados com pinhão-manso e pretende começar a usar a planta para produzir biodiesel a partir de 2011. A meta da empresa, que espera produzir 200 milhões de litros até julho de 2008, é chegar a 400 milhões até 2010.
O Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA) apresentou uma possível solução para liberar o plantio e venda de sementes de pinhão-manso (Jatropha curcas L.). Em reunião realizada ontem (17) com pesquisadores da Embrapa, representantes da indústria de biodiesel e plantadores, o ministério sinalizou a possibilidade de inscrever a espécie no Registro Nacional de Cultivares (RNC).
O registro, que seria apenas como espécie e não como cultivar, ainda precisa ser validado pela área jurídica do ministério, mas a expectativa dos presentes no encontro é que haja um desfecho favorável nos próximos dias.
Se aprovada, a solução contornaria o problema que veio à tona há um mês e meio, quando a BiodieselBR.com noticiou que sem registro no RNC o cultivo do pinhão-manso fica proibido.
A notícia da proibição pegou de surpresa produtores e usineiros que já vinham investindo no plantio da oleaginosa.
“Resolvemos o problema no curto prazo. [A decisão] coloca todo mundo na legalidade”, frisa Mike Lu, presidente da Associação Brasileira de Plantadores de Pinhão-Manso (ABPPM).
A surpresa dos senadores veio quando mostrei que a lei proíbe o plantio de pinhão-manso no Brasil
Segundo Lu, o registro como espécie não dá aos produtores o direito de receber financiamentos, o que só ocorrerá quando o MAPA fizer o registro da cultivar. Um pedido de registro feito pela Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais (Epamig) está sob análise no ministério.
Além disso, segundo a proposta de liberação, a venda de sementes só seria autorizada se produtor e comprador assinarem um termo de compromisso a ser elaborado pelo MAPA. A medida serviria para deixar as partes cientes de que, para o ministério, faltam ainda informações importantes sobre o cultivo da planta.
O argumento da falta de informações irrita os usineiros, que acreditam no potencial do pinhão-manso para produzir biodiesel. “Esse é um problema do governo, que interrompeu várias vezes as pesquisas com a planta”, ataca Francisco Barreto, presidente da Bionasa, com sede em Porangatu (GO). “A maior parte das usinas já fomenta o plantio. O governo deveria ser mais rápido [na liberação] para dar confiabilidade a esse investimento”, afirma.
Para Barreto, o pinhão-manso “é prioridade absoluta.” Segundo ele, a Bionasa fez acordos de pesquisas sobre a oleaginosa com a Embrapa e universidades. A empresa fechará 2007 com 3.700 hectares plantados com pinhão-manso e pretende começar a usar a planta para produzir biodiesel a partir de 2011. A meta da empresa, que espera produzir 200 milhões de litros até julho de 2008, é chegar a 400 milhões até 2010.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Global Warming Weakens Trade Winds
The trade winds in the Pacific Ocean are weakening as a result of global warming, according to a new study that indicates changes to the region's biology are possible.
Using a combination of real-world observations and computer modeling, researchers conclude that a vast loop of circulating wind over the Pacific Ocean, known as the Walker circulation, has weakened by about 3.5 percent since the mid-1800s. The trade winds are the portion of the Walker circulation that blow across the ocean surface.
The researchers predict another 10 percent decrease by the end of the 21st century.
The effect, attributed at least in part to human-induced climate change, could disrupt food chains and reduce the biological productivity of the Pacific Ocean, scientists said.
The study was led by Gabriel Vecchi of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and is detailed in the May 4 issue of the journal Nature.
Humans to blame
The researchers used records of sea-level atmospheric pressure readings from as far back as the mid-1800s to reconstruct the wind intensity of the Walker circulation over the past 150 years. A computer climate model replicated the effect seen in the historical record.
Some of the computer simulations included the effects of human greenhouse gas emissions; others included only natural factors known to affect climate such as volcanic eruptions and solar variations.
"We were able to ask 'What if humans hadn't done anything? Or what if volcanoes erupted? Or if the sun hadn't varied?'" Vecchi said. "Our only way to account for the observed changes is through the impact of human activity, and principally from greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning."
Earth's average temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past century and many scientists believe greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are to blame.
"This is evidence supporting global warming and also evidence of our ability to make reasonable predictions of at least the large scale changes that we should expect from global warming," Vecchi told LiveScience.
By extrapolating their data and combining it with results from other models, the researchers predict the Walker circulation could slow by an additional 10 percent by 2100.
Driving force
The trade winds blow from the east at an angle towards the equator and have been used by sailors for centuries seeking to sail west. Christopher Columbus relied on the Atlantic's trade winds to carry him to North America. The winds get their name from their reliability: To say that a "wind blows trade" is to say that it blows on track.
The overall Walker circulation is powered by warm, rising air in the west Pacific Ocean and sinking cool air in the eastern Pacific.
This looping conveyer belt of winds has far-reaching effects on climate around the globe. It steers ocean currents and nourishes marine life across the equatorial Pacific and off the coast of South America by driving the upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water from ocean depths to the surface.
The Walker circulation is also primarily responsible for transporting water vapor that evaporates from the ocean surface west, towards Indonesia; there, the moisture rises up into the atmosphere, condenses, and falls back to Earth as rain.
The effects of global warming
Several theories on the effects of global warming predict a weakening of the Walker circulation. Scientists think it works like this:
To remain energetically balanced, the rate at which the atmosphere absorbs water vapor must be balanced by the rate of rainfall. But as temperatures rise and more water evaporates from the ocean, water vapor in the lower atmosphere increases rapidly. Because of various physical processes, however, the rate of rainfall does not increase as fast.
Since the atmosphere is absorbing moisture faster than it can dump it, and because wind is the major transporter of moisture into the atmosphere, air circulation must slow down if the energy balance is to be maintained.
A drop in winds could reduce the strength of both surface and subsurface ocean currents and dampen cold water upwelling at the equator.
"This could have important effects on ocean ecosystems," Vecchi said. "The ocean currents driven by the trade winds supply vital nutrients to near-surface ocean ecosystems across the equatorial Pacific, which is a major fishing region."
By Ker Than, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 03 May 2006 01:00 pm ET
Using a combination of real-world observations and computer modeling, researchers conclude that a vast loop of circulating wind over the Pacific Ocean, known as the Walker circulation, has weakened by about 3.5 percent since the mid-1800s. The trade winds are the portion of the Walker circulation that blow across the ocean surface.
The researchers predict another 10 percent decrease by the end of the 21st century.
The effect, attributed at least in part to human-induced climate change, could disrupt food chains and reduce the biological productivity of the Pacific Ocean, scientists said.
The study was led by Gabriel Vecchi of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and is detailed in the May 4 issue of the journal Nature.
Humans to blame
The researchers used records of sea-level atmospheric pressure readings from as far back as the mid-1800s to reconstruct the wind intensity of the Walker circulation over the past 150 years. A computer climate model replicated the effect seen in the historical record.
Some of the computer simulations included the effects of human greenhouse gas emissions; others included only natural factors known to affect climate such as volcanic eruptions and solar variations.
"We were able to ask 'What if humans hadn't done anything? Or what if volcanoes erupted? Or if the sun hadn't varied?'" Vecchi said. "Our only way to account for the observed changes is through the impact of human activity, and principally from greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning."
Earth's average temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past century and many scientists believe greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are to blame.
"This is evidence supporting global warming and also evidence of our ability to make reasonable predictions of at least the large scale changes that we should expect from global warming," Vecchi told LiveScience.
By extrapolating their data and combining it with results from other models, the researchers predict the Walker circulation could slow by an additional 10 percent by 2100.
Driving force
The trade winds blow from the east at an angle towards the equator and have been used by sailors for centuries seeking to sail west. Christopher Columbus relied on the Atlantic's trade winds to carry him to North America. The winds get their name from their reliability: To say that a "wind blows trade" is to say that it blows on track.
The overall Walker circulation is powered by warm, rising air in the west Pacific Ocean and sinking cool air in the eastern Pacific.
This looping conveyer belt of winds has far-reaching effects on climate around the globe. It steers ocean currents and nourishes marine life across the equatorial Pacific and off the coast of South America by driving the upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water from ocean depths to the surface.
The Walker circulation is also primarily responsible for transporting water vapor that evaporates from the ocean surface west, towards Indonesia; there, the moisture rises up into the atmosphere, condenses, and falls back to Earth as rain.
The effects of global warming
Several theories on the effects of global warming predict a weakening of the Walker circulation. Scientists think it works like this:
To remain energetically balanced, the rate at which the atmosphere absorbs water vapor must be balanced by the rate of rainfall. But as temperatures rise and more water evaporates from the ocean, water vapor in the lower atmosphere increases rapidly. Because of various physical processes, however, the rate of rainfall does not increase as fast.
Since the atmosphere is absorbing moisture faster than it can dump it, and because wind is the major transporter of moisture into the atmosphere, air circulation must slow down if the energy balance is to be maintained.
A drop in winds could reduce the strength of both surface and subsurface ocean currents and dampen cold water upwelling at the equator.
"This could have important effects on ocean ecosystems," Vecchi said. "The ocean currents driven by the trade winds supply vital nutrients to near-surface ocean ecosystems across the equatorial Pacific, which is a major fishing region."
By Ker Than, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 03 May 2006 01:00 pm ET
Monday, October 15, 2007
Turbine Free Wind Power: Alternative Alternative Energy
check this video:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1214137061?bctid=1233395616
Wind power is great, but those big turbines are inefficient (the bearings suck out a lot of energy) and, if you're a passing bird, dangerous. Shawn Frayne has come up with an alternative to this alternative energy, which he says is ten times more efficient than a turbine and, because it has no bearings, scales well to smaller sizes.
Inspired by the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which you've all seen shaking itself apart, the Windbelt is a tight plastic strip stretched in a frame, joined to magnets at both ends. When the wind blows across the belt, it vibrates (like when you blow a blade of grass to make music) and the magnets move inside wire coils, generating power. This table top version will put out 40 milliwatts and can power an LED. It's cheap and simple, and can generate power from breezes as slow as 10mph, making it ideal for developing nations (California based Frayne worked in Haiti and saw a need for cheap power to replace dangerous kerosene lamps).
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1214137061?bctid=1233395616
Wind power is great, but those big turbines are inefficient (the bearings suck out a lot of energy) and, if you're a passing bird, dangerous. Shawn Frayne has come up with an alternative to this alternative energy, which he says is ten times more efficient than a turbine and, because it has no bearings, scales well to smaller sizes.
Inspired by the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which you've all seen shaking itself apart, the Windbelt is a tight plastic strip stretched in a frame, joined to magnets at both ends. When the wind blows across the belt, it vibrates (like when you blow a blade of grass to make music) and the magnets move inside wire coils, generating power. This table top version will put out 40 milliwatts and can power an LED. It's cheap and simple, and can generate power from breezes as slow as 10mph, making it ideal for developing nations (California based Frayne worked in Haiti and saw a need for cheap power to replace dangerous kerosene lamps).
Saturday, October 13, 2007
CLIMATE CHANGE: Forests Join the Carbon Market
Zilia Castrillón* - IPS/IFEJ
BOSTON, Oct 6 (IPS) - With deforestation as the second leading source of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, experts are focusing the discussion on the viability of compensating countries for protecting their forests.
The proposal "Reduced Emissions from Deforestation" (RED) was not included in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. But now is being evaluated by scientists, companies and agencies in poor countries that have extensive forested areas.
The CDM allows governments and corporations of industrialised countries (required under the Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions) to meet part of their obligations by investing in "clean" projects in developing countries, by which they obtain certificates of emissions reductions -- at much lower cost than curbing emissions at home.
"Slowing emissions from deforestation would not stop climate change, but it could be an important part of a many-part strategy," Christopher Field, head of the global ecology department at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, said in an interview for this report.
RED emerged in 2005 at the 11th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, with support from the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. Its aim is to include "avoided deforestation" in the global market of carbon credits -- carbon dioxide being the principal greenhouse gas.
Implementation is expected to be finalized at the 13 Conference of Parties, to take place in December on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Brazil, for its part, proposes a fund with voluntary contributions of public money to compensate the effort made by developing countries to reduce deforestation, and that they would be remunerated based on prevented emissions.
In the article "Tropical Forests and Climate Policy", published May 10 in "Science Express" online magazine, Field and other researchers propose to slow the current pace of deforestation 50 percent by the year 2050.
That would be the equivalent of 50 billion tonnes of carbon prevented from being released into the atmosphere, or equal to six years of emissions of gases from fossil fuel combustion, the experts say.
But that figure is meaningless, says to Almuth Ernsting, of the Britain-based Biofuelwatch campaign. Because RED does not intend to stop industrial-scale logging, "there is growing evidence that many rainforests, including the Amazon forest, will collapse well before the destruction of a further 50 percent."
The Amazon is the forest ecosystem with the most carbon: 305 tonnes per hectare, of which 28 percent is in the soil, according to a 1998 study.
Its destruction would release 120 billion tonnes of carbon by 2050, which would be catastrophic to the global climate, says Ernsting.
The transformation of natural ecosystems into farmland entails a loss of 75 percent of the carbon in tropical soils. That implies between 18 and 20 percent of the total emissions from deforestation, according to experts.
There is about twice as much carbon stored in forests and soils as exists in the atmosphere, said William Moomaw, director of the Centre for International Environment and Resource Policy, at Tufts University in the United States.
If one area is preserved, and another is deforested, how is this to be counted, asks Moomaw by way of example. Planting trees in other areas to compensate for logging does not work because it often is done in areas not apt for forests, he explained.
This problem has come up with tree plantations intended to absorb carbon, and could be repeated in a scheme for reducing emissions from deforestation, say critics.
The carbon market helped finance monoculture plantations, and had negative results for the soil, local communities, water resources and, ironically, carbon emissions, says Biofuelwatch's Ernsting.
There is also concern about the difficulties in controlling changes in the carbon stores of forests once the system is applied.
"Monitoring entails some costs, but existing satellite technologies make the challenge relatively straightforward," says Field, of the Carnegie Institution.
National measurement systems can function, according to Moomaw. In the international arena, the European Union, United States and Brazil would need to form a coordinated satellite monitoring team, available for countries with few resources but rich in forests.
Compensation for avoided deforestation should reduce net emissions, encouraging a change in international frameworks and adopting an emissions tariff for countries with little or no historic deforestation, according to the study "No Forest Left Behind", published by Conservation International in the Aug. 14 issue of the online journal Public Library of Science - Biology. Countries with much forest and relatively little deforestation are: Belize, Bhutan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, French Guiana, Gabon, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname and Zambia. Inhabited mostly by indigenous peoples, they would enter the carbon market through "preventive credits" or compensation that they would forfeit if there is an increase in loss of forest.
In order for the system to function equitably, it is important that local communities participate, according to experts.
"The principle of avoided deforestation is not a bad principle, however the means through which it could be realised are complex and fraught with unequal power relations," says Helen Leake, of the non-governmental Forest Peoples Programme. "The devil is in the details."
(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS-Inter Press Service and IFEJ-International Federation of Environmental Journalists.) (END/2007)
BOSTON, Oct 6 (IPS) - With deforestation as the second leading source of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, experts are focusing the discussion on the viability of compensating countries for protecting their forests.
The proposal "Reduced Emissions from Deforestation" (RED) was not included in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. But now is being evaluated by scientists, companies and agencies in poor countries that have extensive forested areas.
The CDM allows governments and corporations of industrialised countries (required under the Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions) to meet part of their obligations by investing in "clean" projects in developing countries, by which they obtain certificates of emissions reductions -- at much lower cost than curbing emissions at home.
"Slowing emissions from deforestation would not stop climate change, but it could be an important part of a many-part strategy," Christopher Field, head of the global ecology department at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, said in an interview for this report.
RED emerged in 2005 at the 11th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, with support from the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. Its aim is to include "avoided deforestation" in the global market of carbon credits -- carbon dioxide being the principal greenhouse gas.
Implementation is expected to be finalized at the 13 Conference of Parties, to take place in December on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Brazil, for its part, proposes a fund with voluntary contributions of public money to compensate the effort made by developing countries to reduce deforestation, and that they would be remunerated based on prevented emissions.
In the article "Tropical Forests and Climate Policy", published May 10 in "Science Express" online magazine, Field and other researchers propose to slow the current pace of deforestation 50 percent by the year 2050.
That would be the equivalent of 50 billion tonnes of carbon prevented from being released into the atmosphere, or equal to six years of emissions of gases from fossil fuel combustion, the experts say.
But that figure is meaningless, says to Almuth Ernsting, of the Britain-based Biofuelwatch campaign. Because RED does not intend to stop industrial-scale logging, "there is growing evidence that many rainforests, including the Amazon forest, will collapse well before the destruction of a further 50 percent."
The Amazon is the forest ecosystem with the most carbon: 305 tonnes per hectare, of which 28 percent is in the soil, according to a 1998 study.
Its destruction would release 120 billion tonnes of carbon by 2050, which would be catastrophic to the global climate, says Ernsting.
The transformation of natural ecosystems into farmland entails a loss of 75 percent of the carbon in tropical soils. That implies between 18 and 20 percent of the total emissions from deforestation, according to experts.
There is about twice as much carbon stored in forests and soils as exists in the atmosphere, said William Moomaw, director of the Centre for International Environment and Resource Policy, at Tufts University in the United States.
If one area is preserved, and another is deforested, how is this to be counted, asks Moomaw by way of example. Planting trees in other areas to compensate for logging does not work because it often is done in areas not apt for forests, he explained.
This problem has come up with tree plantations intended to absorb carbon, and could be repeated in a scheme for reducing emissions from deforestation, say critics.
The carbon market helped finance monoculture plantations, and had negative results for the soil, local communities, water resources and, ironically, carbon emissions, says Biofuelwatch's Ernsting.
There is also concern about the difficulties in controlling changes in the carbon stores of forests once the system is applied.
"Monitoring entails some costs, but existing satellite technologies make the challenge relatively straightforward," says Field, of the Carnegie Institution.
National measurement systems can function, according to Moomaw. In the international arena, the European Union, United States and Brazil would need to form a coordinated satellite monitoring team, available for countries with few resources but rich in forests.
Compensation for avoided deforestation should reduce net emissions, encouraging a change in international frameworks and adopting an emissions tariff for countries with little or no historic deforestation, according to the study "No Forest Left Behind", published by Conservation International in the Aug. 14 issue of the online journal Public Library of Science - Biology. Countries with much forest and relatively little deforestation are: Belize, Bhutan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, French Guiana, Gabon, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname and Zambia. Inhabited mostly by indigenous peoples, they would enter the carbon market through "preventive credits" or compensation that they would forfeit if there is an increase in loss of forest.
In order for the system to function equitably, it is important that local communities participate, according to experts.
"The principle of avoided deforestation is not a bad principle, however the means through which it could be realised are complex and fraught with unequal power relations," says Helen Leake, of the non-governmental Forest Peoples Programme. "The devil is in the details."
(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS-Inter Press Service and IFEJ-International Federation of Environmental Journalists.) (END/2007)
Amazon Rainforest At Risk From Initiative To Connect South American Economies
Science Daily — An unprecedented development plan to link South America's economies through new transportation, energy and telecommunications projects could destroy much of the Amazon rainforest in coming decades, according to a new study by Conservation International scientist Tim Killeen.
However, Killeen reports that such a disastrous outcome can be avoided if steps are taken now to reconcile the legitimate desires for development with the globally important need to conserve the Amazon ecosystem.
His 98-page report, titled "A Perfect Storm in the Amazon Wilderness: Development and Conservation in the Context of the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA)," offers pragmatic approaches for resolving the enduring paradox between economic development and environmental protection.
Killeen, who has worked in the Amazon region for 25 years, fully supports the 12-nation IIRSA plan that seeks the historic goal of overcoming the geographic obstacles of the Amazon wilderness to connect the area's isolated economies. IIRSA investments will integrate improved highway networks, river ways, hydroelectric dams and telecommunications links throughout the continent -- particularly in remote, isolated regions -- to allow greater trade and create a South American community of nations.
Killeen's analysis shows that IIRSA's development projects will coincide with mounting pressures on the Amazon's ecosystem and its traditional communities. These pressures include climate change; logging; deforestation for agriculture; and mineral exploitation, as well as the impending boom in biofuel crops such as sugar cane.
"Failure to foresee the full impact of IIRSA investments, particularly in the context of climate change and global markets, could lead to a perfect storm of environmental destruction," Killeen says. "At stake are the greatest tropical wilderness area on the planet and the multiple benefits it provides."
October 5, 2007
The study offers three possible scenarios for the future of the Amazon region, and warns that infrastructure projects that are developed without timely or thorough environmental impact analysis will lead to the worst-case scenario -- widespread deforestation and the eventual loss of the Amazon jungle within three or four decades.
"Our hope is that this document will stimulate IIRSA to become an even more important and relevant initiative, one that incorporates the vision of an ecologically and culturally intact Amazon," writes Gustavo Fonseca, the Global Environment Facility's team leader for natural resources, in the publication's preface. "South America has an enormous economic incentive to conserve the ecosystem services provided by the Amazon, along with achieving real and effective regional integration. These are not mutually exclusive goals."
According to Killeen, the destruction of the Amazon as a result of currently-planned IIRSA projects would have profound and far-reaching consequences. The Amazon River basin is the world's largest reserve of fresh water, while the extensive Amazon wilderness regulates the continental climate, spawning annual precipitation that waters the multibillion-dollar agriculture industry of the Rio Plata basin to the south.
Cutting and burning of the Amazon forests could seriously jeopardize this industry as well as destroy the vast ecosystems that are home to indigenous people. It would also wipe out some of Earth's richest storehouses of terrestrial and freshwater life and would exacerbate global warming by releasing into the atmosphere the huge quantities of carbon stored in the biomass of the tropical forest -- estimated at about twenty times the world's total annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Killeen argues it doesn't have to be this way. He notes that intact Amazon forest could generate billions of dollars in carbon credits under a market system being negotiated to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Biofuel crops, such as sugarcane could be planted on the 65 million hectares (162 million acres) of already deforested land, rather than clearing more jungle to establish new plantations. He also advocates other environmentally friendly solutions, such as fish farming, which could use the Amazon's abundant water resources to create economic opportunity for peasant farmers and produce millions of dollars in revenue.
"A visionary initiative such as IIRSA should be visionary in all of its dimensions, and should incorporate measures to ensure that the region's renewable natural resources are conserved and its traditional communities strengthened," Killeen writes.
Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by Conservation International.
However, Killeen reports that such a disastrous outcome can be avoided if steps are taken now to reconcile the legitimate desires for development with the globally important need to conserve the Amazon ecosystem.
His 98-page report, titled "A Perfect Storm in the Amazon Wilderness: Development and Conservation in the Context of the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA)," offers pragmatic approaches for resolving the enduring paradox between economic development and environmental protection.
Killeen, who has worked in the Amazon region for 25 years, fully supports the 12-nation IIRSA plan that seeks the historic goal of overcoming the geographic obstacles of the Amazon wilderness to connect the area's isolated economies. IIRSA investments will integrate improved highway networks, river ways, hydroelectric dams and telecommunications links throughout the continent -- particularly in remote, isolated regions -- to allow greater trade and create a South American community of nations.
Killeen's analysis shows that IIRSA's development projects will coincide with mounting pressures on the Amazon's ecosystem and its traditional communities. These pressures include climate change; logging; deforestation for agriculture; and mineral exploitation, as well as the impending boom in biofuel crops such as sugar cane.
"Failure to foresee the full impact of IIRSA investments, particularly in the context of climate change and global markets, could lead to a perfect storm of environmental destruction," Killeen says. "At stake are the greatest tropical wilderness area on the planet and the multiple benefits it provides."
October 5, 2007
The study offers three possible scenarios for the future of the Amazon region, and warns that infrastructure projects that are developed without timely or thorough environmental impact analysis will lead to the worst-case scenario -- widespread deforestation and the eventual loss of the Amazon jungle within three or four decades.
"Our hope is that this document will stimulate IIRSA to become an even more important and relevant initiative, one that incorporates the vision of an ecologically and culturally intact Amazon," writes Gustavo Fonseca, the Global Environment Facility's team leader for natural resources, in the publication's preface. "South America has an enormous economic incentive to conserve the ecosystem services provided by the Amazon, along with achieving real and effective regional integration. These are not mutually exclusive goals."
According to Killeen, the destruction of the Amazon as a result of currently-planned IIRSA projects would have profound and far-reaching consequences. The Amazon River basin is the world's largest reserve of fresh water, while the extensive Amazon wilderness regulates the continental climate, spawning annual precipitation that waters the multibillion-dollar agriculture industry of the Rio Plata basin to the south.
Cutting and burning of the Amazon forests could seriously jeopardize this industry as well as destroy the vast ecosystems that are home to indigenous people. It would also wipe out some of Earth's richest storehouses of terrestrial and freshwater life and would exacerbate global warming by releasing into the atmosphere the huge quantities of carbon stored in the biomass of the tropical forest -- estimated at about twenty times the world's total annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Killeen argues it doesn't have to be this way. He notes that intact Amazon forest could generate billions of dollars in carbon credits under a market system being negotiated to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Biofuel crops, such as sugarcane could be planted on the 65 million hectares (162 million acres) of already deforested land, rather than clearing more jungle to establish new plantations. He also advocates other environmentally friendly solutions, such as fish farming, which could use the Amazon's abundant water resources to create economic opportunity for peasant farmers and produce millions of dollars in revenue.
"A visionary initiative such as IIRSA should be visionary in all of its dimensions, and should incorporate measures to ensure that the region's renewable natural resources are conserved and its traditional communities strengthened," Killeen writes.
Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by Conservation International.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Biodiesel: seminário discute uso do pinhão manso como alternativa à produção
SAFRAS (26) - A Assembléia Legislativa de São Paulo recebe especialistas de vários setores na próxima quinta-feira (28/6) para o seminário A utilização do pinhão manso no Programa de Biodiesel. Essa planta é interessante, embora seja pouco conhecida da maioria das pessoas.
Ela oferece um óleo de ótima qualidade e ainda pode se transformar em um instrumento de inserção social devido à facilidade para cultivá-la, destaca o deputado estadual Sebastião Almeida, idealizador do seminário.
O evento será realizado no auditório Franco Montoro, com capacidade para mais de 300 pessoas, das 10h às 13h. A entrada é gratuita. Foram convidados o secretário Estadual de Agricultura e Abastecimento, João de Almeida Sampaio Filho, o presidente do Incra-SP, Raimundo Pires Silva, o diretor Executivo da Fundação Instituto de Terra do Estado de São Paulo, Gustavo Ungaro, o gerente Executivo da Diretoria de Desenvolvimento Energético da Petrobras, Mozart Schmitt de Queiroz, entre outros.
José Rainha Júnior, uma das lideranças do Movimento dos Sem-Terra, foi convidado para participar e contar a experiência de pequenos agricultores do Pontal do Paranapanema com o cultivo do pinhão manso. Queremos ampliar o debate em torno de novas matrizes energéticas. O álcool é um sucesso no Brasil e no Exterior, mas não podemos nos limitar a essa fonte de energia, destaca Almeida. Com o pinhão manso e outras oleaginosas, tenho certeza de que poderemos contribuir ainda mais para amenizar os impactos da poluição no planeta. O que é o pinhão manso? O pinhão manso (Jatropha curcas) é uma das mais promissoras oleaginosas do Brasil devido à sua facilidade de adaptação, cultivável em 90% do território nacional. Apresenta boa produtividade em terras pouco férteis, diferentes condições de solo (arenoso, calcário, salino, pedregoso) e em climas áridos. O cultivo pode ser feito sem a utilização de máquinas, o que estimula a agricultura familiar. Segundo estimativas, a produção de 2.000 a 3.500 litros de óleo por hectare pode garantir uma renda média anual entre R$ 3.000,00 a R$ 4.500,00. É uma planta perene, que produz por mais de 50 anos e sua colheita se estende por cerca de seis meses. Só para se ter uma idéia, um ônibus urbano consume 40 mil litros de biocombustível por ano, quantia de óleo suficiente para empregar até 190 famílias.
O pinhão manso também pode ser cultivado junto com outros vegetais. A partir de seu processamento é obtido um biofertilizante rico em nitrogênio, potássio, fósforo e matéria orgânica, capaz de combater as doenças do solo.
Desintoxicada, essa torta de pode ser transformada em ração, como já ocorre com a mamona. Sua casca também pode ser usada como carvão vegetal e matéria-prima na fabricação de papel. E o óleo extraído, como repelente de insetos em pomares e para a fabricação de tintas e vernizes.
Uma planta com essas características pode dar outra dimensão aos que lutam por maior inclusão social, diz o deputado Almeida. Não podemos desprezar a força que a planta pode exercer sobre os produtores familiares, ao gerar um impacto positivo na geração de emprego e renda no campo. As informações partem da assessoria de imprensa do evento.
SERVIÇO: A utilização do pinhão manso no Programa de Biodiesel Data: 28/06 (quinta-feira) Horário: 10h às 13h Local: Auditório Franco Montoro, na Assembléia Legislativa de São Paulo Endereço: Avenida Pedro Álvares Cabral, 201 - Ibirapuera - São Paulo Realização: deputado Sebastião Almeida (PT-SP) ESPECIALISTAS CONVIDADOS: Arnoldo Anacleto de Campos (Coordenação Geral de Agregação de Valor e Renda/ MDA) João de Almeida Sampaio Filho (Secretário de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo) Gustavo Ungaro (Diretor Executivo da Fundação Instituto de Terras do Estado de São Paulo) Raimundo Pires Silva (Superintendente do Incra no Estado de São Paulo) Mozart Schmitt de Queiroz (Gerente Executivo da Diretoria de Desenvolvimento Energético da Petrobrás) Alfredo José Barreto Luiz (Chefe Adjunto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento da Embrapa Meio Ambiente) José Rainha (Federação dos Assentados e Pequenos Agricultores do Oeste Paulista e Pontal do Paranapanema) Sérgio Black (Gerente de Mercado - Agro-Negócio do Banco do Brasil) Karin Brüning (Diretora Superintendente da Ciatec Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Pólo de Alta Tecnologia de Campinas) Luiz Carlos Rocha Gaspar - Presidente da Ciatec (Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Pólo de Alta Tecnologia de Campinas e Trade Point) (CBL)
Ela oferece um óleo de ótima qualidade e ainda pode se transformar em um instrumento de inserção social devido à facilidade para cultivá-la, destaca o deputado estadual Sebastião Almeida, idealizador do seminário.
O evento será realizado no auditório Franco Montoro, com capacidade para mais de 300 pessoas, das 10h às 13h. A entrada é gratuita. Foram convidados o secretário Estadual de Agricultura e Abastecimento, João de Almeida Sampaio Filho, o presidente do Incra-SP, Raimundo Pires Silva, o diretor Executivo da Fundação Instituto de Terra do Estado de São Paulo, Gustavo Ungaro, o gerente Executivo da Diretoria de Desenvolvimento Energético da Petrobras, Mozart Schmitt de Queiroz, entre outros.
José Rainha Júnior, uma das lideranças do Movimento dos Sem-Terra, foi convidado para participar e contar a experiência de pequenos agricultores do Pontal do Paranapanema com o cultivo do pinhão manso. Queremos ampliar o debate em torno de novas matrizes energéticas. O álcool é um sucesso no Brasil e no Exterior, mas não podemos nos limitar a essa fonte de energia, destaca Almeida. Com o pinhão manso e outras oleaginosas, tenho certeza de que poderemos contribuir ainda mais para amenizar os impactos da poluição no planeta. O que é o pinhão manso? O pinhão manso (Jatropha curcas) é uma das mais promissoras oleaginosas do Brasil devido à sua facilidade de adaptação, cultivável em 90% do território nacional. Apresenta boa produtividade em terras pouco férteis, diferentes condições de solo (arenoso, calcário, salino, pedregoso) e em climas áridos. O cultivo pode ser feito sem a utilização de máquinas, o que estimula a agricultura familiar. Segundo estimativas, a produção de 2.000 a 3.500 litros de óleo por hectare pode garantir uma renda média anual entre R$ 3.000,00 a R$ 4.500,00. É uma planta perene, que produz por mais de 50 anos e sua colheita se estende por cerca de seis meses. Só para se ter uma idéia, um ônibus urbano consume 40 mil litros de biocombustível por ano, quantia de óleo suficiente para empregar até 190 famílias.
O pinhão manso também pode ser cultivado junto com outros vegetais. A partir de seu processamento é obtido um biofertilizante rico em nitrogênio, potássio, fósforo e matéria orgânica, capaz de combater as doenças do solo.
Desintoxicada, essa torta de pode ser transformada em ração, como já ocorre com a mamona. Sua casca também pode ser usada como carvão vegetal e matéria-prima na fabricação de papel. E o óleo extraído, como repelente de insetos em pomares e para a fabricação de tintas e vernizes.
Uma planta com essas características pode dar outra dimensão aos que lutam por maior inclusão social, diz o deputado Almeida. Não podemos desprezar a força que a planta pode exercer sobre os produtores familiares, ao gerar um impacto positivo na geração de emprego e renda no campo. As informações partem da assessoria de imprensa do evento.
SERVIÇO: A utilização do pinhão manso no Programa de Biodiesel Data: 28/06 (quinta-feira) Horário: 10h às 13h Local: Auditório Franco Montoro, na Assembléia Legislativa de São Paulo Endereço: Avenida Pedro Álvares Cabral, 201 - Ibirapuera - São Paulo Realização: deputado Sebastião Almeida (PT-SP) ESPECIALISTAS CONVIDADOS: Arnoldo Anacleto de Campos (Coordenação Geral de Agregação de Valor e Renda/ MDA) João de Almeida Sampaio Filho (Secretário de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo) Gustavo Ungaro (Diretor Executivo da Fundação Instituto de Terras do Estado de São Paulo) Raimundo Pires Silva (Superintendente do Incra no Estado de São Paulo) Mozart Schmitt de Queiroz (Gerente Executivo da Diretoria de Desenvolvimento Energético da Petrobrás) Alfredo José Barreto Luiz (Chefe Adjunto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento da Embrapa Meio Ambiente) José Rainha (Federação dos Assentados e Pequenos Agricultores do Oeste Paulista e Pontal do Paranapanema) Sérgio Black (Gerente de Mercado - Agro-Negócio do Banco do Brasil) Karin Brüning (Diretora Superintendente da Ciatec Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Pólo de Alta Tecnologia de Campinas) Luiz Carlos Rocha Gaspar - Presidente da Ciatec (Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Pólo de Alta Tecnologia de Campinas e Trade Point) (CBL)
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