|
|
|
|
|
Fields of Fuel: Market and Environmental Implications of Switching to Grass for U.S. Transport LIZ MARSHALL and ZACHARY SUGG World Resources Institute 2010/08/13
This study examines the impacts of increased commercial switchgrass production on U.S. agricultural land-use patterns, commodity prices, and the environmental impacts of cropping systems in the agricultural sector.
http://www.wri.org/publications Keywords: energy, and, biofuel, U.S., agriculture, land, production, cropping, system
|
Renewable energy for the agricultural sector to enhance energy security and food security Policy Brief UNESCAP 2009/12
Deepening dependence on fossil fuels as a result of unsustainable energy production and consumption patterns and energy insecurity has begotten vulnerability to volatile
energy prices, which have affected agricultural production, transportation, and commodity prices, and, hence, adversely impacted food security.
Download
http://www.unescap.org/esd/energy Keywords: energy and biofuel, fossil fuel, sustainable, consumption, agriculture, production, price, commodity, impact
|
TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION REPORT 2010 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION UNCTAD 2010
UNCTAD’s Technology and Innovation Report 2010 focuses on the technological challenges that small-holder farmers in developing countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa, face in increasing agricultural productivity. It outlines the agricultural sector’s challenges and the roles of technology and innovation in raising production and the income of small-holder farmers. And it describes readily available technologies that can be applied now to improve soils, manage water shortages and resist drought.
Download
http://www.unctad.org Keywords: energy and biofuel, Africa, smallholder, farmers, agriculture, drought, soil, technology, report, developing, countries, innovation, production, income
|
India Biofuels Annual USDA Foreign Agricultural Service 2009/06/15
India's bio-fuel strategy continues to focus on use of non-food sources for production of bio-fuels: sugar molasses for production of ethanol for blending with gasoline, and non-edible oilseeds for production of bio-diesel for blending with petro-diesel. The government's current target of five percent blending of ethanol with petrol has been partially successful in years of surplus sugar production, but falters when sugar production declines. The commercial production of bio-diesel for blending with petro-diesel has been very small due to inadequate feed stocks.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, India
|
Green Fuels for Development? Improving Policy Coherence in West Africa Sahel and West Africa Club/OECD 2008/09/02
This paper addresses the opportunities, challenges and risks related to the development of bio-fuels in the Sahel and West Africa where problems of food security and purchasing power are most keenly felt. After covering the facts and debate surrounding green fuel, this paper presents the national and regional policies and strategies regarding food and land issues. A Code of Good Conduct setting out the conditions for a Green Fuel for Development label could reconcile West Africa's trade, energy and food goals while allowing the region to find a place in the new world energy market.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, West Africa, OECD, green fuel
|
2025: Fields for Food or Fuel? Scenarios for a New Biomass Regime
Fields for Food or Fuel project brochure
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel
|
Opportunities and challenges of biofuels for the agricultural sector and the food security of developing countries United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 2008
This study was prepared by Daniel De La Torre Ugarte, Associate Director of the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Policy Analysis Center within the framework of the activities of the UNCTAD Biofuels Initiative.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, United Nations, development, food security
|
Making Certification Work for Sustainable Development: The Case of Biofuels United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 2008
This study was prepared by Simonetta Zarrilli with the collaboration of Jennifer Burnett in the framework of the activities of the UNCTAD BioFuels Initiative.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, United Nations, development, food security
|
Food & Energy Sovereignty Now: Brazilian Grassroots Position on Agroenergy Camila Moreno & Anuradha Mittal The Oakland Institute / Terra de Direitos February 2008
This policy brief presents Brazilian civil society's perspective and the South's critical analysis on
biofuels, and addresses the issue at the following three levels:
1. Regional: focuses on a geopolitical analysis and implications of the Brazil-US ethanol alliance.
2. Global: examines the corporate strategy that has come to determine the main official discourse on agroenergy and how to tackle climate change.
3. Grassroots Resistance: describes how grassroots groups are challenging the current framing of energy security issues, and presents their proposed agenda for energy security built upon food and energy sovereignty for "cooling down the earth".
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, Brazil, agroenergy, ethanol
|
Energy and water shortages statistics ICOS 2009/06/09
According to statistics from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a third of the world's population is suffering from shortage of water, raising the prospect of water crises in countries such as China, India, and the U.S. About a quarter of the world's population lives in areas of "physical water shortage", wherein natural phenomena over-use and poor agricultural practices have caused groundwater levels and rivers to dry up. A further 1 billion people face "economic water shortages" due to lack of necessary infrastructure to access water from rivers and aquifers.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, water scarcity
|
Another Inconvenient Truth: How biofuel policies are deepening poverty and accelerating climate change Robert Bailey Oxfam International June 2008
The current biofuel policies of rich countries are neither a solution to the climate crisis nor the oil crisis, and instead are contributing to a third: the food crisis. In poor countries, biofuels may offer some genuine development opportunities, but the potential economic, social, and environmental costs are severe, and decision makers should proceed with caution.
Download
http://www.oxfaminternational.org Keywords: energy, biofuel, food, policy, development, environment, decision, making
|
Biofuel Production, Trade and Sustainable Development Policy Discussion Paper International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) Dec. 2008
Biofuels are a promising source of energy with major implications for global competitiveness, energy security and uncertain social and environmental impacts. Therefore, crafting policy and regulatory frameworks for biofuels nationally and internationally is likely to require intense debate, negotiations and compromise. This paper seeks to contribute analytically to this debate. It gives an overview of biofuel technology and long-term future biomass production potential. It then provides an overview of current and projected trends in global biofuel production and trade and describes government policies underpinning this expansion. The paper then explores the major issues regarding biofuels and sustainable development, including economic, environmental and social aspects. Finally, the
paper reviews ongoing initiatives to design sustainability certification schemes for biofuels and the associated issues, including the links with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, and draws out key conclusion and recommendations on how to advance a sustainable biofuel agenda.
Download
http://ictsd.org/ Keywords: energy, biofuel, policy, regulation, environment, sustainable, development, WTO, global, trade
|
Biofuels Certification and the Law of the World Trade Organization Professor Marsha A. Echols International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) Aug. 2009
The paper you're holding has been authored by Professor Marsha A. Echols, the Director of the Graduate Program and of The World Food Law Institute at Howard University School of Law in Washington DC, and commissioned under the Global Platform on Climate Change, Trade Policies and Sustainable Energy. This report places biofuels certification in an international trade context. It assesses certification through the World Trade Organization (WTO) lens and develops the requirements for trade compliance. Governments employ certification to assess whether there has been compliance with a variety of standards and incentives related to their encouragement of the switch to biofuels from fossil fuels. A frequent standard requires the mixing of gasoline with biofuels. The certification process likely would be a means of determining conformity with the standard. The party receiving a certification might be given special tax relief, the ability to sell to the government and a positive label, for example. To maintain the certification, the party might undergo periodic audits and verifications.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, policy, regulation, WTO, certification, food, law, climate, report
|
Biofuels subsidies and the law of the WTO Toni Harmer International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) June 2009
The issue paper you are holding, authored by Toni Harmer, seeks to contribute to the policy dialogue on biofuels and, in particular, to discussion of the implications of World Trade Organization (WTO) subsidy disciplines for national biofuel policies. It also raises a number of issues that warrant further examination in order to clarify the interaction between biofuels and these trade rules. The
first section discusses the policy context driving government support for biofuels and considers current production and trade trends. The second section considers the evolving policy landscape for biofuels and identifies key policy measures used by major producing countries to support their industries. The third section considers the application of WTO subsidy disciplines to common biofuel
measures and raises a number of questions of how those disciplines might affect national policies. The fourth section briefly outlines the emerging discussion about the adequacy of WTO rules to deal with biofuels, and climate-change measures more generally. The paper concludes with some policy implications for national approaches.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, policy, regulation, WTO, sustainable, development, national, approaches, discussion, trade, government
|
Intellectual Property and Access to Clean Energy Technologies in Developing Countries John H. Barton and George E. Osborne International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) December 2007
This study seeks to contribute to the debate on asymmetry of information as it relates to the potential role of intellectual property in the development and diffusion of clean energy technologies. It explores whether or not there will be IP barriers to access clean technologies and know-how in developing countries. In order to assess IP implications for developing countries, the paper examines the technology and industrial structure of three clean energy sectors: solar photo-voltaic (PV), bio-mass for fuel and wind energy technologies. The paper concentrates on three technologically advanced developing countries including Brazil, China and India.
Download
Keywords: energy, biofuel, technology, developing country, biomass, clean, India, China, solar, wind
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Global Food Security
There are more than 1.02 billion hungry people in the world
Source:FAO 2010
Providing global food security is one of the principle challenges for humanity in current times. The scale of the challenge is immense. According to an FAO estimate over 1 billion people suffer from hunger. One sixth of all humanity currently goes hungry every day. This is a challenge that has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. There are more people hungry today than at any time since 1970.
Malnutrition has also been growing since the mid-1990s, and in 2008 was affecting approximately 915 million people. These trends are expected to worsen given high food prices, and structural issues relating to the recent downturn in the global economy.
> More
The work of The Network of European Foundations' Mercator Fund is underpinned by the principle that the global philanthropic community has a vital role to play in promoting and implementing the work necessary to bring about social and political change. The Mercator Fund aims to generate innovative ideas to respond to key global challenges through the development of projects that address core global social issues.
The Sir Ratan Tata Trust is one of the oldest philanthropic institutions in India, and has played a pioneering role in changing the traditional ideas of charity and introducing the concept of philanthropy. Through its grant making, the Trust supports efforts in the development of society, through institutional grants in areas of Education, Health, Arts & Culture, Enhancing Civil Society & Governance and Rural Livelihoods & Communities. Besides institutional grants, the Trust also makes individual grants for education and medical relief.
Nearly 70% of the tribal communities of India reside in central India, concentrated in about 110 districts within the nine central Indian states. The region is endowed with rich natural resources; however, issues such as abject poverty, primitive farming methods, improper use of water resources, naxalism, etc. ensure that this tribal belt lags behind other parts of India. Central India Initiative, one of the flagship initiatives of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, was initiated in 2004, with the basic objective of enhancing tribal livelihoods through a Natural Resource Management (NRM) based approach. Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), a registered organization seeded by the Trust, is the nodal agency for the Central India Initiative.
ICOS ICOS is an independent international organisation providing local solutions to tackle new global challenges. Through an innovative combination of research, analysis and project implementation, ICOS examines the root causes of current challenges to achieve measurable and direct results.
|