En la Municipalidad de Malvinas Argentinas, a través del Departamento de Investigación y Producción de Energías Alternativas, se ha impulsado un proyecto para producir biocombustibles, creando la primera planta de producción de biodiésel a nivel municipal.
La planta se enfoca en la producción de biocombustibles de segunda generación, esto significa que la materia prima con la que trabaja resulta ser un deshecho, el acei te vegetal usado y no un alimento. Se han impulsado además programas de recolección que cuentan con la colaboración de todos los vecinos malvinenses, quienes se deshacen de un residuo como lo es el aceite usado para frituras, transformando así un desperdicio en un recurso.
Consecuentemente la Municipalidad, mediante mecanismos de recolección quita un contaminante del medio ambiente, lo mejora y convierte en biodiésel.
lunes, 21 de julio de 2008
jueves, 17 de julio de 2008
Dreyfus tiene permiso para construir su nuevo puerto
Una inversión agroindustrial descontracturó ayer el semblante preocupado del gobernador bonaerense, Daniel Scioli, por lo menos por un rato, cuando los representantes de la compañía Louis Dreyfus Commodities (LDC) le presentaron el detalle de una inversión que había sido anunciada en 2007.
La firma exportadora de granos y subproductos planea construir en Bahía Blanca una terminal portuaria para recepción, almacenaje y embarque de esos productos, que demandará una inversión global del orden de los u$s 130 millones.
Luego de que las obras pasaran por un proceso de aprobación por parte del Gobierno bonaerense que culminó en abril de este año, hace algo más de diez días los directivos de Louis Dreyfus firmaron el contrato de concesión de uso con el Consorcio de Gestión del Puerto de Bahía Blanca.
La firma podrá usufructuar una fracción de terreno de 16 hectáreas y un espejo de agua de aproximadamente 2.000 metros cuadrados por espacio de 30 años en el sector denominado ‘Cangrejales’.
El grupo Louis Dreyfus, uno de los principales comercializadores de productos agrícolas del mundo, es el tercer exportador de productos agrícolas en la Argentina.
En estos días, está finalizando también la construcción de una planta de biodiesel con una capacidad de producción de 300 mil toneladas anuales, lo que la convierte en una de las más grandes del mundo.
La firma exportadora de granos y subproductos planea construir en Bahía Blanca una terminal portuaria para recepción, almacenaje y embarque de esos productos, que demandará una inversión global del orden de los u$s 130 millones.
Luego de que las obras pasaran por un proceso de aprobación por parte del Gobierno bonaerense que culminó en abril de este año, hace algo más de diez días los directivos de Louis Dreyfus firmaron el contrato de concesión de uso con el Consorcio de Gestión del Puerto de Bahía Blanca.
La firma podrá usufructuar una fracción de terreno de 16 hectáreas y un espejo de agua de aproximadamente 2.000 metros cuadrados por espacio de 30 años en el sector denominado ‘Cangrejales’.
El grupo Louis Dreyfus, uno de los principales comercializadores de productos agrícolas del mundo, es el tercer exportador de productos agrícolas en la Argentina.
En estos días, está finalizando también la construcción de una planta de biodiesel con una capacidad de producción de 300 mil toneladas anuales, lo que la convierte en una de las más grandes del mundo.
La gira de un VW biodiésel
Laboratorio en Movimiento es un proyecto que se puso en marcha por mexicanos para cubrir una aventura de 30 mil kilómetros por Latinoamérica en una Volkswagen Eurovan TDI que funciona con biodiesel de origen vegetal.
Miguel Gutiérrez, diseñador industrial de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y Agnès Mérat, filósofa de la misma entidad, viajarán unos 9 meses (de México hasta la Argentina) a bordo de un VW que anda a un biodiésel elaborar por ellos.
Para más información hacé click aquí.
Miguel Gutiérrez, diseñador industrial de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y Agnès Mérat, filósofa de la misma entidad, viajarán unos 9 meses (de México hasta la Argentina) a bordo de un VW que anda a un biodiésel elaborar por ellos.
Para más información hacé click aquí.
domingo, 29 de junio de 2008
domingo, 15 de junio de 2008
Algae may be biofuel source
While Hawai'i has dropped out of the list of top five states for gasoline prices, it is still No. 1 for diesel fuel prices.
The statewide average Friday for diesel was $5.204 a gallon, a 46 percent increase over a year ago, according to American Automobile Association data.
The rapid rise in diesel prices is not only tough on owners of diesel cars, boats and trucks, but it also hurts those depending on diesel power generators, including most Moloka'i and Lana'i residents.
The climb in diesel prices over the past two years has propelled feverish efforts among several Hawai'i companies to find viable alternatives.
But not just any alternative will do.
Biodiesel, a plant-based alternative which can be used in most existing diesel engines without major modifications, has proven to be problematic.
Several Hawai'i researchers are hoping to avoid those problems by producing fuel from nonfood crops and, in one case, from algae.
The murky colored water flowing around raceway-shaped ponds in Kailua, Kona, doesn't look like much. But this six-acre test facility may represent the new oil fields of the 21st century.
When biodiesel is made from soybeans and other edible crops, it has been blamed for driving up food prices worldwide. Another biofuel, corn-based ethanol — which is widely used as a gasoline additive — has similar problems.
Prominent scientists have also questioned whether growing crops for biofuels produces more greenhouse gases than it prevents.
However, results from the demonstration project in Kailua, Kona, are being monitored by Europe's largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, as well as former University of Hawai'i scientists who believe the fast-growing algae holds great promise when it comes to finding a cheaper alternatives to crude oil.
"We have good confidence that it's very viable," said Ed Shonsey, chief executive officer of HR Biopetroleum, a company that is partnering with Shell on the project. That includes believing the processes can eventually produce oil for $30 to $50 a barrel.
"It's looking extremely good."
The marine algae gets a much better yield than many plants. Where the highest producing oil palm farmers get 600 gallons an acre per year, algae can produce 5,000 to 8,000 gallons per acre annually, Shonsey said.
Moreover, algae proponents note it has the attractive environmental side effect of being able to absorb carbon dioxide waste from industrial facilities such as power plants. Thus it's hoped the production of biodiesel and other fuels from algae could reduce global-warming emissions if paired with a nearby power plant.
"That's the exciting thing about algae and why everyone is so interested," Shonsey said. "It's ideal for Hawai'i because no fresh water is required, no ag land is required and it cleans up the environment."
There is also less controversy about crops being in competition with food production since algae production should drive up prices of edible crops.
algae technology
HR Biopetroleum has joined with Shell on a company, Cellana, that is one of about 20 worldwide looking to commercialize algae technology. Shonsey said Cellana has a leg up on the competition because it already has a patented process and research expertise from HR Biopetroleum that has been developed over nearly two decades. That work has solved contamination problems that can occur while identifying the best algae species for oil production, he said.
Cellana's pilot plant is producing oil now and that a demonstration plant is being built in Kona to scale it up. Within three years it hopes to have its first commercial plant operating and within six years, another five plants.
Shonsey declined to say where the first commercial plant might be located aside from saying the company's priorities for sites are in Hawai'i and the southwest and southeast U.S. Shell previously said it wants to build a full-scale commercial production facility occupying about 50,000 acres.
The Kailua, Kona, facility's production is being tested for use in transport, including jets. The fuel also can be used in power plants.
Shonsey said his group is in talks with several potential partners on building a plant and that he hopes to be making an announcement soon.
"We have a very precise patented process which we now need to scale up," he said. "Now it's a matter of the commercialization."
In addition to the use of algae as an alternative, researchers from the University of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Agricultural Research Center are looking into the viability of several plants not commonly used for food, including Jatropha trees, Kukui, Pongam and Moringa, also known as Kalamungay.
Michael Poteet, a Hawaii Agricultural Research Center agronomist, cautions that production from these plants won't be happening overnight since it will take time to figure out which crops work best and to get the infrastructure in place to extract the oil and then refine it.
"We'd all like to have a quick answer to this problem," Poteet said. "It's hard to be patient when diesel is $4.50 or over $5 a gallon, but we're working as fast as we can."
limited output
Poteet said there are probably 100,000 acres statewide that could be used in the next 10 to 15 years for the crops, with possibly more available over a longer period. But he and others note even if 100,000 acres were planted tomorrow, it would be at least a couple of years before oil seeds could be harvested.
Poteet said only 30 million gallons of biodiesel would be produced by the 100,000 acres if they were planted in crops averaging 300 gallons of oil annually.
That would only account for a portion of the diesel used in Hawai'i. In 2006 about 182 million gallons of diesel were used by nonmilitary consumers in Hawai'i for on- and off-road use, including fishing fleets.
But Poteet said even at that low percentage of total use, the biodiesel effort is worth it. That includes the economic benefits and security issues such as the state having enough fuel during emergency situations in which fuel shipments are restricted.
Anything that lowers diesel prices would be welcomed on Moloka'i where residents have seen the energy cost adjustment charge on their electricity bills rise 60 percent over the past year because Maui Electric Co.'s generators there burn diesel. On Lana'i the energy cost adjustment charge is up 67 percent.
On Maui, a partnership consisting of Blue Earth Biofuels and Hawaiian Electric Co. is pursuing permits for an $81 million facility capable of producing 30 million gallons of biodiesel that will be used by Maui Electric Co. Profits earned by Hawaiian Electric on the project will go into a public trust that will support local biocrop research and infrastructure.
Hawaiian Electric Co. also hopes to burn biodiesel at a new peak demand plant on O'ahu and has a contract with another biodiesel refiner, Imperium Renewables, to provide the fuel. It remains to be seen if Imperium will build a plant here since it canceled a public offering that would have raised money for a plant here and reportedly has been hit by rising prices for soybean oil.
Pacific Biodiesel, the Maui company that is one of the nation's oldest biodiesel producers, has found demand outstrips supply for its biodiesel made from used cooking oil. It is working with the Oceanic Institute on a project looking at local biofuels.
With multiple efforts going on, the state also is looking at what it should be doing from a policy point of view and how biodiesel and other biofuels dovetail with other renewable energy projects such as wind and solar power.
bioenergy masterplan
The state last month kicked off public meetings as it looks at formulating a bioenergy masterplan that will contemplate a host of issues that are part of the biofuel movement, including acreage needed, water use and evaluating what can be grown where.
There are other issues, such as competition for land that produced food crops and how to dispose of some of the processing waste. Others question whether enough water is available depending on the crops.
At the same time, the state is hopeful that the oil's economic drain on the state might be offset by producing some of the energy here while boosting energy security.
In effect, instead of the money going to the Middle East or other oil producing areas, local biofuel production would keep the money here people are hired to tend the crops and process the biofuel."
"We use a great deal of liquid fuel," said Maria Tome, a state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism energy engineer.
"To the extent that we can have locally produced alternatives, we can keep the money in the state."
The statewide average Friday for diesel was $5.204 a gallon, a 46 percent increase over a year ago, according to American Automobile Association data.
The rapid rise in diesel prices is not only tough on owners of diesel cars, boats and trucks, but it also hurts those depending on diesel power generators, including most Moloka'i and Lana'i residents.
The climb in diesel prices over the past two years has propelled feverish efforts among several Hawai'i companies to find viable alternatives.
But not just any alternative will do.
Biodiesel, a plant-based alternative which can be used in most existing diesel engines without major modifications, has proven to be problematic.
Several Hawai'i researchers are hoping to avoid those problems by producing fuel from nonfood crops and, in one case, from algae.
The murky colored water flowing around raceway-shaped ponds in Kailua, Kona, doesn't look like much. But this six-acre test facility may represent the new oil fields of the 21st century.
When biodiesel is made from soybeans and other edible crops, it has been blamed for driving up food prices worldwide. Another biofuel, corn-based ethanol — which is widely used as a gasoline additive — has similar problems.
Prominent scientists have also questioned whether growing crops for biofuels produces more greenhouse gases than it prevents.
However, results from the demonstration project in Kailua, Kona, are being monitored by Europe's largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, as well as former University of Hawai'i scientists who believe the fast-growing algae holds great promise when it comes to finding a cheaper alternatives to crude oil.
"We have good confidence that it's very viable," said Ed Shonsey, chief executive officer of HR Biopetroleum, a company that is partnering with Shell on the project. That includes believing the processes can eventually produce oil for $30 to $50 a barrel.
"It's looking extremely good."
The marine algae gets a much better yield than many plants. Where the highest producing oil palm farmers get 600 gallons an acre per year, algae can produce 5,000 to 8,000 gallons per acre annually, Shonsey said.
Moreover, algae proponents note it has the attractive environmental side effect of being able to absorb carbon dioxide waste from industrial facilities such as power plants. Thus it's hoped the production of biodiesel and other fuels from algae could reduce global-warming emissions if paired with a nearby power plant.
"That's the exciting thing about algae and why everyone is so interested," Shonsey said. "It's ideal for Hawai'i because no fresh water is required, no ag land is required and it cleans up the environment."
There is also less controversy about crops being in competition with food production since algae production should drive up prices of edible crops.
algae technology
HR Biopetroleum has joined with Shell on a company, Cellana, that is one of about 20 worldwide looking to commercialize algae technology. Shonsey said Cellana has a leg up on the competition because it already has a patented process and research expertise from HR Biopetroleum that has been developed over nearly two decades. That work has solved contamination problems that can occur while identifying the best algae species for oil production, he said.
Cellana's pilot plant is producing oil now and that a demonstration plant is being built in Kona to scale it up. Within three years it hopes to have its first commercial plant operating and within six years, another five plants.
Shonsey declined to say where the first commercial plant might be located aside from saying the company's priorities for sites are in Hawai'i and the southwest and southeast U.S. Shell previously said it wants to build a full-scale commercial production facility occupying about 50,000 acres.
The Kailua, Kona, facility's production is being tested for use in transport, including jets. The fuel also can be used in power plants.
Shonsey said his group is in talks with several potential partners on building a plant and that he hopes to be making an announcement soon.
"We have a very precise patented process which we now need to scale up," he said. "Now it's a matter of the commercialization."
In addition to the use of algae as an alternative, researchers from the University of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Agricultural Research Center are looking into the viability of several plants not commonly used for food, including Jatropha trees, Kukui, Pongam and Moringa, also known as Kalamungay.
Michael Poteet, a Hawaii Agricultural Research Center agronomist, cautions that production from these plants won't be happening overnight since it will take time to figure out which crops work best and to get the infrastructure in place to extract the oil and then refine it.
"We'd all like to have a quick answer to this problem," Poteet said. "It's hard to be patient when diesel is $4.50 or over $5 a gallon, but we're working as fast as we can."
limited output
Poteet said there are probably 100,000 acres statewide that could be used in the next 10 to 15 years for the crops, with possibly more available over a longer period. But he and others note even if 100,000 acres were planted tomorrow, it would be at least a couple of years before oil seeds could be harvested.
Poteet said only 30 million gallons of biodiesel would be produced by the 100,000 acres if they were planted in crops averaging 300 gallons of oil annually.
That would only account for a portion of the diesel used in Hawai'i. In 2006 about 182 million gallons of diesel were used by nonmilitary consumers in Hawai'i for on- and off-road use, including fishing fleets.
But Poteet said even at that low percentage of total use, the biodiesel effort is worth it. That includes the economic benefits and security issues such as the state having enough fuel during emergency situations in which fuel shipments are restricted.
Anything that lowers diesel prices would be welcomed on Moloka'i where residents have seen the energy cost adjustment charge on their electricity bills rise 60 percent over the past year because Maui Electric Co.'s generators there burn diesel. On Lana'i the energy cost adjustment charge is up 67 percent.
On Maui, a partnership consisting of Blue Earth Biofuels and Hawaiian Electric Co. is pursuing permits for an $81 million facility capable of producing 30 million gallons of biodiesel that will be used by Maui Electric Co. Profits earned by Hawaiian Electric on the project will go into a public trust that will support local biocrop research and infrastructure.
Hawaiian Electric Co. also hopes to burn biodiesel at a new peak demand plant on O'ahu and has a contract with another biodiesel refiner, Imperium Renewables, to provide the fuel. It remains to be seen if Imperium will build a plant here since it canceled a public offering that would have raised money for a plant here and reportedly has been hit by rising prices for soybean oil.
Pacific Biodiesel, the Maui company that is one of the nation's oldest biodiesel producers, has found demand outstrips supply for its biodiesel made from used cooking oil. It is working with the Oceanic Institute on a project looking at local biofuels.
With multiple efforts going on, the state also is looking at what it should be doing from a policy point of view and how biodiesel and other biofuels dovetail with other renewable energy projects such as wind and solar power.
bioenergy masterplan
The state last month kicked off public meetings as it looks at formulating a bioenergy masterplan that will contemplate a host of issues that are part of the biofuel movement, including acreage needed, water use and evaluating what can be grown where.
There are other issues, such as competition for land that produced food crops and how to dispose of some of the processing waste. Others question whether enough water is available depending on the crops.
At the same time, the state is hopeful that the oil's economic drain on the state might be offset by producing some of the energy here while boosting energy security.
In effect, instead of the money going to the Middle East or other oil producing areas, local biofuel production would keep the money here people are hired to tend the crops and process the biofuel."
"We use a great deal of liquid fuel," said Maria Tome, a state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism energy engineer.
"To the extent that we can have locally produced alternatives, we can keep the money in the state."
viernes, 23 de mayo de 2008
La ONU pide frenar los biocombustibles
El alza alocada del precio de los alimentos en todo el mundo se debe, entre otros factores, a la decisión de Estados Unidos de destinar el maíz a fabricar combustible. Los precios de las materias primas seguirían altos por diez años.
Ginebra (ANSA y EFE) - El relator especial de la ONU sobre el derecho a la alimentación, Oliver De Schutter, se pronunció ayer en Ginebra por el congelamiento de las nuevas inversiones y subsidios que favorecen la producción de biocombustibles, porque -dijo- están actuando como disparador de precios de alimentos.
El pedido del relator coincide con el de organizaciones no gubernamentales, como Greenpeace, que consideran que la producción de biocombustibles genera más problemas que soluciones, tanto en el ámbito de la preservación del medio ambiente como en el de la alimentación.
En una intervención en una sesión especial del Consejo de ONU para los Derechos Humanos, dedicada al impacto de la crisis alimentaria mundial desencadenada por el incremento de los precios de los alimentos, De Schutter afirmó que los biocombustibles fueron un importante factor en esa suba. Explicó que se debió a la ""competencia entre alimentos, forraje y combustible"".
De Schutter mencionó que existe un porcentaje creciente de producción agrícola destinado a los combustibles en Estados Unidos y definió como ""irreales"" los objetivos de la Unión Europea de que 10% del consumo de los transportes para 2010 sea de biocombustibles. "
"Abandonándolos, enviaremos una fuerte señal a los mercados sobre el hecho de que los precios no subirán al infinito y desmotivaremos la especulación"", afirmó. Al abrir los trabajos de la sesión especial del Consejo, el alto comisionado de ONU por los Derechos Humanos, Louise Arbour, advirtió que en ausencia de una respuesta adecuada, la crisis que niega a muchos la alimentación podrá tener un efecto dominó, poniendo en riesgo otros derechos fundamentales, incluidos los de la educación y la salud.
Para Arbour, la crisis deriva de una convergencia perversa de diversos factores, entre ellos las distorsiones entre la oferta y la demanda, prácticas comerciales desleales y algunas políticas de subsidios. Otros funcionarios mencionan además el cambio climático y la especulación en los mercados de materia prima.
Los responsables de la FAO advirtieron que los líderes políticos mundiales deben llegar a un compromiso para afrontar la crisis alimentaria con más inversión y más productividad, porque si no crecerá el hambre en el planeta.
DIEZ AÑOS Un informe semestral que prepara la FAO sobre el tema, titulado Perspectivas Agrícolas 2008-2017, cuya publicación estaba prevista para la semana próxima pero fue adelantado ayer por el Financial Times, señala que los precios de los alimentos seguir&aa cute;n siendo altos durante al menos los diez próximos años.
Solo en los tres primeros meses de este año los precios subieron un 53%, indica el documento. Para dar una idea de las proporciones colosales que representa el reto de la crisis alimentaria, ""la producción mundial de cereal necesita aumentar en un 50% para el año 2030 y la producción de carne un 85%"", declaró Hafez Ghanem, director general adjunto del Departamento Económico y Social de la FAO.
Ginebra (ANSA y EFE) - El relator especial de la ONU sobre el derecho a la alimentación, Oliver De Schutter, se pronunció ayer en Ginebra por el congelamiento de las nuevas inversiones y subsidios que favorecen la producción de biocombustibles, porque -dijo- están actuando como disparador de precios de alimentos.
El pedido del relator coincide con el de organizaciones no gubernamentales, como Greenpeace, que consideran que la producción de biocombustibles genera más problemas que soluciones, tanto en el ámbito de la preservación del medio ambiente como en el de la alimentación.
En una intervención en una sesión especial del Consejo de ONU para los Derechos Humanos, dedicada al impacto de la crisis alimentaria mundial desencadenada por el incremento de los precios de los alimentos, De Schutter afirmó que los biocombustibles fueron un importante factor en esa suba. Explicó que se debió a la ""competencia entre alimentos, forraje y combustible"".
De Schutter mencionó que existe un porcentaje creciente de producción agrícola destinado a los combustibles en Estados Unidos y definió como ""irreales"" los objetivos de la Unión Europea de que 10% del consumo de los transportes para 2010 sea de biocombustibles. "
"Abandonándolos, enviaremos una fuerte señal a los mercados sobre el hecho de que los precios no subirán al infinito y desmotivaremos la especulación"", afirmó. Al abrir los trabajos de la sesión especial del Consejo, el alto comisionado de ONU por los Derechos Humanos, Louise Arbour, advirtió que en ausencia de una respuesta adecuada, la crisis que niega a muchos la alimentación podrá tener un efecto dominó, poniendo en riesgo otros derechos fundamentales, incluidos los de la educación y la salud.
Para Arbour, la crisis deriva de una convergencia perversa de diversos factores, entre ellos las distorsiones entre la oferta y la demanda, prácticas comerciales desleales y algunas políticas de subsidios. Otros funcionarios mencionan además el cambio climático y la especulación en los mercados de materia prima.
Los responsables de la FAO advirtieron que los líderes políticos mundiales deben llegar a un compromiso para afrontar la crisis alimentaria con más inversión y más productividad, porque si no crecerá el hambre en el planeta.
DIEZ AÑOS Un informe semestral que prepara la FAO sobre el tema, titulado Perspectivas Agrícolas 2008-2017, cuya publicación estaba prevista para la semana próxima pero fue adelantado ayer por el Financial Times, señala que los precios de los alimentos seguir&aa cute;n siendo altos durante al menos los diez próximos años.
Solo en los tres primeros meses de este año los precios subieron un 53%, indica el documento. Para dar una idea de las proporciones colosales que representa el reto de la crisis alimentaria, ""la producción mundial de cereal necesita aumentar en un 50% para el año 2030 y la producción de carne un 85%"", declaró Hafez Ghanem, director general adjunto del Departamento Económico y Social de la FAO.
viernes, 2 de mayo de 2008
Native People Warn U.N. of Biofuels Disaster
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 (IPS) - Growing demand for biofuels by the world's rich nations is propelling attacks on indigenous people and destroying their lands and forests, according to native leaders attending a three-week international meeting here.
"[There are] increasing human rights violations, displacements and conflicts due to expropriation of ancestral lands and forests for biofuels plantations," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Tauli-Corpus, one of the authors of a new report on the topic, warned that if biofuels expansion continued at the current pace, it was likely that at least 60 million native people would lose their lands and livelihood.
The warning comes amid growing global concern over the current food crisis that has left millions of people across the global south to suffer hunger and starvation.
Experts on agro-economics say biofuels production is largely responsible for the current food shortages and soaring prices. The crisis, according to them, is not going to end unless the rich countries change their energy consumption patterns.
If rich nations stopped biofuels production this year, it would lead to a price decline in corn by about 20 percent and wheat by about 10 percent within the next two years, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, a think tank in Washington.
In a recent teleconference, Lester Brown, president of the U.S.-based Earth Policy Institute, made similar observations about the impact of biofuels production and consumption.
"Food security will deteriorate further unless leading countries can collectively mobilise to stabilise population and restrict the use of grain to produce automotive fuel," he said.
In his latest research, Brown, an award-winning environmental analyst, points out that the unsustainable use of land and water, as well as trade imbalances among nations, are among the major factors contributing to the present crisis.
"The chronically tight food supply the world is now facing is driven by the cumulative effects of several well-established trends that are affecting both global demand and supply," he said.
On the demand side, some 4 billion people are already struggling to get enough to eat, while at the same time, the amount of grain used for car fuels is also rising immensely, according to Brown.
"Since 2005, this last source of demand has raised the annual growth in world grain consumption from nearly 20 million tonnes to about 50 million tonnes," he said. "Meanwhile, on the supply side, there is little new land to be brought under the plow unless it comes from clearing tropical rain forests in the Amazon and Congo basins, or in Indonesia or the Brazilian Cerrado."
The Institute's research shows that new sources of irrigation water are even more scarce than new land to plow. During the past 50 years, global irrigated land has nearly tripled, expanding from 94 million hectares in 1950 to 276 million hectares in 2000. In other words, the amount of cultivable land is shrinking by 1 percent every year.
Experts working with other international institutions, including the United Nations, agree with Brown's analysis of the current food crisis.
Early this month, a report released by the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) called for rich countries to urgently contribute 500 million dollars to address the issue of food scarcity that has led to riots in a number of countries.
According to the World Bank, at least 33 countries are currently in danger of political destabilisation and internal conflicts driven by rising food prices. Currently, some of these poor countries are facing food price hikes of up to 80 percent.
Robert Watson, the former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and chief economist at Britain's Department for Environment, agrees that the global production of food has increased, but notes with concern that "not everyone has benefited" from it.
In a recent statement, Watson blamed governments and private businesses for paying more attention to growth in production than natural resources or food security.
"Continuing with current trends means the Earth's haves and have-nots splitting further apart," he said. "It would leave us facing a world nobody wants to inhabit."
Proponents of the sustainable development model say food-based biofuels production, such as ethanol, promotes single crop agriculture which is can lead to further loss of biodiversity and create economic disparities.
In their report to the U.N., indigenous leaders documented numerous cases that illustrate how the surge in biofuels plantations is destroying forests in bio-diverse countries and driving native communities out of their lands.
For example, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Colombia all plan to expand their palm oil plantations despite protests by environmental groups who fear massive destruction of resources that belong to indigenous communities.
Activists say Indonesia's plans for plantations could deprive at least 5 million indigenous peoples of their ancient lands. The situation in Colombia is similar, with hundreds of native communities facing threats to their livelihood from plantations.
In addition to palm oil, big agribusinesses are also moving into indigenous lands to grow sugarcane, soy, corn, manioc and jatopha crops -- all of which can be used as fuel. Activists say due to sugarcane plantations, the Guarani people in Brazil have lost much of their land.
Last year, Brazil and the United States signed an agreement last year to cooperate with each other in the development of biofuels. On Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated his energy policy, saying that biofuels was important for the U.S. to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
For his part, Brown is particularly concerned about the impact of U.S. policies on the growing food insecurity worldwide, and he is not convinced Washington has any plans to help mitigate the problem.
"I don't think the U.S. has realised the seriousness of the problem we are facing," he told IPS. "I am not sure they have any understanding of what is happening."
Regardless of Washington's stance on biofuels, activists attending the U.N. forum say they are determined to protect their rights.
"The biofuels boom doesn't just have consequences for the environment, global food prices or orang-utans -- it's having a devastating effecting on tribal (indigenous) people too," said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International.
"The companies feverishly promoting this industry have been perfectly willing to push aside tribal people in their hunger for land," he said in a statement.
"[There are] increasing human rights violations, displacements and conflicts due to expropriation of ancestral lands and forests for biofuels plantations," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Tauli-Corpus, one of the authors of a new report on the topic, warned that if biofuels expansion continued at the current pace, it was likely that at least 60 million native people would lose their lands and livelihood.
The warning comes amid growing global concern over the current food crisis that has left millions of people across the global south to suffer hunger and starvation.
Experts on agro-economics say biofuels production is largely responsible for the current food shortages and soaring prices. The crisis, according to them, is not going to end unless the rich countries change their energy consumption patterns.
If rich nations stopped biofuels production this year, it would lead to a price decline in corn by about 20 percent and wheat by about 10 percent within the next two years, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, a think tank in Washington.
In a recent teleconference, Lester Brown, president of the U.S.-based Earth Policy Institute, made similar observations about the impact of biofuels production and consumption.
"Food security will deteriorate further unless leading countries can collectively mobilise to stabilise population and restrict the use of grain to produce automotive fuel," he said.
In his latest research, Brown, an award-winning environmental analyst, points out that the unsustainable use of land and water, as well as trade imbalances among nations, are among the major factors contributing to the present crisis.
"The chronically tight food supply the world is now facing is driven by the cumulative effects of several well-established trends that are affecting both global demand and supply," he said.
On the demand side, some 4 billion people are already struggling to get enough to eat, while at the same time, the amount of grain used for car fuels is also rising immensely, according to Brown.
"Since 2005, this last source of demand has raised the annual growth in world grain consumption from nearly 20 million tonnes to about 50 million tonnes," he said. "Meanwhile, on the supply side, there is little new land to be brought under the plow unless it comes from clearing tropical rain forests in the Amazon and Congo basins, or in Indonesia or the Brazilian Cerrado."
The Institute's research shows that new sources of irrigation water are even more scarce than new land to plow. During the past 50 years, global irrigated land has nearly tripled, expanding from 94 million hectares in 1950 to 276 million hectares in 2000. In other words, the amount of cultivable land is shrinking by 1 percent every year.
Experts working with other international institutions, including the United Nations, agree with Brown's analysis of the current food crisis.
Early this month, a report released by the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) called for rich countries to urgently contribute 500 million dollars to address the issue of food scarcity that has led to riots in a number of countries.
According to the World Bank, at least 33 countries are currently in danger of political destabilisation and internal conflicts driven by rising food prices. Currently, some of these poor countries are facing food price hikes of up to 80 percent.
Robert Watson, the former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and chief economist at Britain's Department for Environment, agrees that the global production of food has increased, but notes with concern that "not everyone has benefited" from it.
In a recent statement, Watson blamed governments and private businesses for paying more attention to growth in production than natural resources or food security.
"Continuing with current trends means the Earth's haves and have-nots splitting further apart," he said. "It would leave us facing a world nobody wants to inhabit."
Proponents of the sustainable development model say food-based biofuels production, such as ethanol, promotes single crop agriculture which is can lead to further loss of biodiversity and create economic disparities.
In their report to the U.N., indigenous leaders documented numerous cases that illustrate how the surge in biofuels plantations is destroying forests in bio-diverse countries and driving native communities out of their lands.
For example, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Colombia all plan to expand their palm oil plantations despite protests by environmental groups who fear massive destruction of resources that belong to indigenous communities.
Activists say Indonesia's plans for plantations could deprive at least 5 million indigenous peoples of their ancient lands. The situation in Colombia is similar, with hundreds of native communities facing threats to their livelihood from plantations.
In addition to palm oil, big agribusinesses are also moving into indigenous lands to grow sugarcane, soy, corn, manioc and jatopha crops -- all of which can be used as fuel. Activists say due to sugarcane plantations, the Guarani people in Brazil have lost much of their land.
Last year, Brazil and the United States signed an agreement last year to cooperate with each other in the development of biofuels. On Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated his energy policy, saying that biofuels was important for the U.S. to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
For his part, Brown is particularly concerned about the impact of U.S. policies on the growing food insecurity worldwide, and he is not convinced Washington has any plans to help mitigate the problem.
"I don't think the U.S. has realised the seriousness of the problem we are facing," he told IPS. "I am not sure they have any understanding of what is happening."
Regardless of Washington's stance on biofuels, activists attending the U.N. forum say they are determined to protect their rights.
"The biofuels boom doesn't just have consequences for the environment, global food prices or orang-utans -- it's having a devastating effecting on tribal (indigenous) people too," said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International.
"The companies feverishly promoting this industry have been perfectly willing to push aside tribal people in their hunger for land," he said in a statement.
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