Biofuel may play a role in curbing climate change but may create food insecurity and environmental hazards in many developing countries.

Biofuel - A Threat for Food Security and Environment

Arif Mohammad Faisal

Programme Associate

Energy & Climate Change Cluster

UNDP Bangladesh

Biofuel may play a role in curbing climate change but may create food insecurity and environmental hazards in many developing countries.

In the recent time production and use of biofuel has increased globally due to soaring of fossil fuel price and to secure sustainable energy supply for the future. Biofuels can help reduce global warming by curbing green house gas emission and create employment opportunity and increased income for the rural poor in many developing countries. On the other hand Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) offers potential for funding biofuels projects in developing countries resulting increasing of biofuel production in these countries. At the same time skeptics argue that benefits may be offset by increased food insecurity for the billions of hungry people in poor country and may create serious environmental problems.

Biofuels, which are made from agricultural crops and other plants e.g. corn (maize), palm oil, sugar cane, Jathropa (a biofuel yielding plant), etc. have been seen by many as a cleaner and cheaper way to meet the world's soaring energy needs than with greenhouse gas emitting conventional fossil fuels. The most common use for biofuels is automotive transport. Biofuel can be produced from any biological carbon source. The most common by far is photosynthetic plants that capture solar energy. Many different plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacture. In the preparation of biofuel, it is usually grow agricultural crops like sugarcane, sugar beet, maize etc. and then converted it into ethanol by yeast fermentation. It can also done by producing oil yielding plants such as Jatropha, Pongam seed or rape seed and then oil are heated to reduce their viscosity and they can be directly burn in the diesel engine.

“Conventional fossil fuels still account for more than 95 percent of the global transportation fuel market, biofuel production is gradually increasing 15 percent per year, a rate over ten times that of fossil fuel”. Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugar-based ethanol, producing about 16 billion litres a year and US, the world's biggest oil user, is the second-largest biofuel producer after Brazil. Brazil plans to increase biofuels share from 37% to about 60% by 2020. In 2005, the U.S. pledged to nearly double ethanol production by 2012, and the European Community recently announced that biofuels will meet 10 percent of their transportation fuel needs by 2020. According to recent UN-Energy report on “Sustainable Bioenergy”, global biofuels production has doubled in the last five years and will likely double again in the next four years. Some of the countries enacted new pro-biofuel policies in recent years are: Australia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand etc. In China, the government is making E10 (a fuel mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline) blends mandatory in five provinces that account for 16% of the nation's passenger cars. In Southeast Asia, Thailand has mandated an ambitious 10% ethanol mix in gasoline starting in 2007. India is extending plantations of Jatropha and the Indian sugar ethanol program sets a target of 5% bioethanol incorporation into transport fuel.

However, not everyone, particularly the developing country is enthusiastic about the booming of biofuel production. Critics are highlighting the potential environmental and social costs of biofuels, including the consequences of increased food insecurity on the billions of poor of the developing country.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 922