8/9/08

PROPERTY AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT:
Land for Bio - fuels
Kironde
Daily News; Saturday,August 09, 2008 @20:03
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  • Introduction

    ALL land practitioners have got to address the issue of land for bio-fuels. In Tanzania concern has already been raised both in Parliament and by a number of commentators that we are giving away too much land, valuable land, to foreign investors for growing plants for bio-fuels. A good starting point to address this issue is to understand what bio-fuels are and whether bio-fuel growing is good, bad or ugly for a poor country like Tanzania. There is a lot of literature now on bio-fuels with arguments on both sides of the fence; some arguing for, and some arguing against bio-fuels. Addressing the question of bio-fuels has taken on an urgent need in view of the escalating (fossil) oil prices and in view of the need to protect the environment. Once heralded as the alternative fuel source of the future, bio-fuels have come under scrutiny recently with a number of reports suggesting they cause more harm to the environment than originally thought, and that they cause fundamental socio-economic problems affecting access to land for the world poor.

    What are bio-fuels?

    Bio-fuels are any kind of fuel made from living things, or from the waste they produce i.e. from any organic source that can be rapidly replenished. The list from which bio-fuels can be made is long and diverse and includes: wood, wood chippings and straw; pellets or liquids made from wood; biogas (methane) from animals' excrement; and ethanol, diesel or other liquid fuels made from processing plant material or waste oil. In recent years, the term "bio-fuel" has come to mean the last category -- ethanol and diesel, made from crops including corn, sugarcane, jatropha, palm and rapeseed. Bio-ethanol is an alcohol which is usually mixed with petrol, while bio-diesel is either used on its own or in a mixture. They are considered more renewable and sustainable sources than fossil fuels, and are one of the few technologies with the potential to displace oil for use in transport. Ethanol for fuel is made through fermentation, the same process which produces it in wine and beer. Bio-diesel is made through a variety of chemical processes. There is interest in trying bio-butanol, another alcohol, in aviation fuel.

    Bio-fuels are not a new invention. Pioneers such as Henry Ford and German Engineer Rudolph Diesel designed cars and engines to run on bio-fuels. The diesel engine, invented by Rudolf Diesel in 1892, was first made to run on peanut oil. In the early 1900s, Henry Ford designed one of his very first vehicles to run on ethanol. Before World War II, the UK and Germany both sold bio-fuels mixed with petrol or diesel made from crude oil. Cheap crude oil, especially from the Middle East, diverted interest and research away from bio-fuels. Oil's low price gave it dominance in the market.

    There is renewed interest in bio-fuels for a number of reasons including growing concerns over climate change, rising oil prices and insecurity of supply. These reasons mean that governments and industry are desperately searching for alternative fuels. There is also the possibility of high economic returns.

    Advantages of Bio-fuels

    In principle, bio-fuels are a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional transport fuels. Burning the fuels releases carbon dioxide; but growing the plants absorbs a comparable amount of the gas from the atmosphere. However, energy is used in farming and processing the crops, and this can make bio-fuels as polluting as petroleum-based fuels, depending on what is grown and how it is treated. A recent UK government publication declared that bio-fuels reduced emissions "by 50-60% compared to fossil fuels". There is thus a general consensus that bio-fuels are much more climate-friendly than are fossil fuels.

    The plants and by-products used to make bio-fuels are renewable (as fresh supplies can be produced as needed) so in theory there is an unlimited amount and secure supply. It also helps that bio-fuels are not restricted to a certain number of countries that can control supply. Another plus is that they can be easily used within existing car and lorry engines.

    One other advantage cited for bio-fuels is their ability to revamp rural areas which have been relying for long on normal agriculture which is subsidised or whose products fetch low and fluctuating prices. It is argued that rural people in developing countries will get employment, rural infrastructure may be improved, and rural poverty may be reduced.

    Where are bio-fuels produced and used?

    Production of ethanol doubled globally between 2000 and 2005, with bio-diesel output quadrupling. Brazil leads the world in production and use, making about 16 billion litres per year of ethanol from its sugarcane industry. Sixty per-cent of new cars can run on a fuel mix which includes 85% ethanol. European governments and the US have set themselves targets to increase the use of bio-fuels in the next five years. Investors in agriculture for bio-fuels are now eyeing Asia and Africa

    What are the disadvantages of bio-fuels?

    From the environmental point of the view, the big issue is biodiversity. With much of the western world's farmland already consisting of identikit fields of mono-cultured crops, the fear is that a major adoption of bio-fuels will reduce habitat for animals and wild plants still further. Asian countries may be tempted to replace rainforest with more palm oil plantations, for example and this is possibly already happening in Indonesia. If increased proportions of food crops such as maize or soya are used for fuel, that may push prices up, affecting food supplies and therefore the cost of living, for less prosperous peoples.

    The mixed picture regarding the climate benefit of bio-fuels leads some observers to say that the priority should be reducing energy use; initiatives on bio-fuels detract attention from this, they say, and are more of a financial help to politically important farming lobbies than a serious attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions. There are few problems technically; engines can generally cope with the new fuels. But current technologies limit production, because only certain parts of specific plants can be used. The big hope (and the smart money) is the so-called second-generation of bio-fuels, which will process the cellulose found in many plants meaning that all parts of the plants are used. This should lead to far more efficient production using a much greater range of plants and plant waste.

    The rising appetite worldwide for bio-fuels means that there are economic incentives in destroying wetlands, rainforests and other commons to provide more plantation land. Vast amounts of greenhouse gases are released in this clearance and some scientists say this is enough to negate any of the intended future benefits. This also has a major impact on the conservation of plants and animals living in these areas, as well as water patterns and soil protection.

    It is now recognised that there are also harmful social and economic impacts. Food shortages are on the rise in poorer countries, as farmland traditionally used for food and animal feed has been turned over to grow crops suitable for bio-fuels. Added to this is the fact that the increase in demand for crops, such as rice, maize or soya, which can be used as both food and bio-fuels, has forced the cost up, pricing people in poorer countries out. Riots have already taken place in several parts of the world after the price of maize quadrupled, pushed up by the demand for bio-fuels.

    Are some bio-fuels better than others?

    The best performing bio-fuels, such as ethanol produced from sugar cane in Brazil, can deliver 10 times more energy than that required to produce them, and release a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions compared to their fossil fuel equivalent.

    In contrast, the worst performing bio-fuels deliver significantly less energy, and contribute indirectly to greenhouse gas emissions through forest fires and clearing to make way for plantations. Bio-diesel produced from palm oil in Indonesia is often cited as an example of 'bad' bio-fuel.

    Tanzania cannot avoid addressing the question of bio-fuels. Already thousands of hectares in the country are reported to have been allocated for the purpose. Next week we will survey the literature on bio-fuels from the point of view of access to land.





    --
    Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
    Procurement Consultant
    Gsm: +250-08470205
    Home: +250-55104140
    P.O. Box 3867
    Kigali-Rwanda
    East Africa
    Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
    Skype ID : Kayisa66

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