Biofuel can help poor as well as climate: FAO
ROME (Reuters) - Biofuel -- "environmentally friendly" energy created from plants rather than oil -- should not be seen as a threat to the world's poor and may help increase food production, a U.N. food and energy expert said.
Fears over climate change have boosted the demand for alternative fuels in Europe and North America, but the rise of biofuel has been criticized by some who say it is not really "green" and will put a squeeze on land needed for food.
However, the person in charge of energy policy at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said biofuel was getting a bad press and, rather than being a threat to the poor, it could boost food production as well as wealth.
"It's probably the best opportunity there has been since the 'green revolution' to bring really a new wind of development in rural areas," Gustavo Best told Reuters in an interview.
He was referring to the huge increase in food production in the developing world, aided in part by new plant technologies that came into vogue in the 1960s.
"If done well," he added. "If well managed, bio-energy production can bring new areas of development ... new investment, new jobs and new infrastructure that can also benefit the food industry," Best said on Monday.
That is a significant "if". The FAO has highlighted the risk of increasing biofuel production for the world's 854 million hungry people.
"Liquid biofuel production could threaten the availability of adequate food supplies by diverting land and other resources away from food crops," it said in a study issued last month.
Environmentalists have criticized Malaysia and Indonesia for chopping down forests to make way for palm oil plantations, and in Africa only intense lobbying prevented the Ugandan government from doing the same on an island in Lake Victoria.
CARBON NEUTRAL
Biofuels have come into vogue this decade largely because of increasing evidence that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal are causing global warming.
Because plants like sugar cane, palm fruit, maize and rapeseed all absorb CO2 as they grow, their impact on the climate is considered far lower than that of traditional fuels.
Experts say if crude oil is trading at above $40 a barrel, biofuel can be a viable alternative. The last time crude was below $40 was January 2005.
Demand for biofuels could mean big opportunities for many tropical areas, including large parts of Africa, to grow crops like sugar cane and sorghum to make ethanol, Best said.
The International Energy Agency says biofuels now account for 1 percent of road-fuel consumption. It can also be used in power plants to generate electricity. Continued...
