Gore urged to put brake on biofuel production

According to a report in the Cape Argus, they have told him that that large-scale biofuel production and new incentives to promote biofuels, based on ‘energy-crop monocultures’, are having a devastating impact on biodiversity and contributing to global climate change. South Africa is in the process of developing a draft biofuel strategy, but it has run into strong criticism from environmental groups. The coalition asked Gore to consider their concerns before addressing the World Biofuels Markets Congress in Brussels soon and speaking at the First Biofuels Congress of the Americas in Argentina in May. The coalition said one of their major concerns was that energy crop monocultures threatened the global climate. The coalition also told Gore that many organisations, particularly from the global south, had signed declarations expressing concerns about the threats posed by biofuel monocultures, including threats to food security, human and land rights, and biodiversity. Full report in the Cape Argus

Meanwhile, US President George Bush is to meet soon with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to discuss partnering in biofuels production and trade, amongst other issues. According to a report in the Cape Times, for Washington, the driving force is cutting US dependence on the Middle East and other external oil suppliers, especially during the US war on terror. For Brazil, the leading exporter of sugar cane-based fuel, the aim is to create a ‘global ethanol market’, said Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. To that end, according to the Brazilian ethanol industry, step one is for the US to cut its duty on Brazil\'s ethanol. For Amorim, co-operation means setting ethanol standards, developing second-generation fuels from vegetative waste and encouraging ethanol production in other countries. ‘We will have to produce ethanol in Central American countries and in the Caribbean to satisfy US demand,’ said Frederique Rosa Abreu, a biofuels official. ‘Brazilian production goes first to its domestic market,’ he said. Full report in the Cape Times