Editorial By Achim Steiner,
Executive Director of the UN Environment
Programme, who is visiting Brazil between
5 and 7 March 2007 - When the Presidents
of Brazil and the United States meet next
week, the surprising topic of termites might
be high on the agenda.
For in the race to develop the next or
second generation biofuels, these humble
life forms are attracting a great deal of
scientific, financial and political attention.
US Government-backed scientists claim microbes
living in the guts of termites have potent
enzymes able to efficiently and cost effectively
transform woody wastes into sugars for ethanol
production.
Ethanol yields from termite technology could,
within a few years, out strip those from
crops like maize and even sugar cane.
The US is investing billions of dollars
in alternative fuels, a slice of which is
now earmarked for termites. Similar studies
are being undertaken at Kenyan tropical
insect labs with funding from Europe.
Samuel Bodman, the US Energy Secretary,
spelt it out recently to an audience in
Washington: “They (termites) have been doing
this for a million years. Our goal is to
tap the secrets of these natural processes
and harness them”.
Biofuels have, in what seems a breathtakingly
short time, become the green gold. The US
is planning to increase alternative fuel
use by a fifth over 10 years.
The European Union is backing plans to
have biofuels make up a mandatory 10% of
its fuel consumption by 2020.
Brazil, the undisputed pioneer in the field
with some 30 years of experience in bio-ethanol,
is signing new agreements with sugar producing
countries like Jamaica.
Europe has asked Brazil if it can deploy
Brazilian technology and know how in Africa
for bio-ethanol production there.
Domestically Petrobras has indicated plans
to expand production 15 fold and increase
exports to 200 billion litres—up from three
billion—over the next two decades.
The future would seem to be rosy and like
the sugars used to make ethanol, sweet.
But there is another future harvest that
may prove a more bitter one.
Concerned groups and anti-biofuel alliances
are being forged drawn from environmental,
social and food security backgrounds.
Strident voices, in some cases reminiscent
of those opposing nuclear power, are starting
to be raised.
There are fears that energy crops will
consume wildlife habitats and economically
productive forests.
There are also concerns that the new drive
may perpetuate poor working conditions in
the agricultural sector and aggravate food
insecurity by diverting food from hungry
mouths into petrol tanks.
Energy companies are worried that a consumer
backlash may be looming that could trigger
boycotts undermining biofuel investments.
Boycotts of the kind witnessed in some
developed countries over the introduction
of genetically modified foods or like ones
now emerging over carbon emissions linked
with agricultural products air-freighted
from, for example, East Africa to the UK.
Governments are acting to allay concerns.
Indonesia for example has announced that
it will not permit or license palm oil plantations
for bio-diesel production in national parks
or protected areas.
Brazilian experts have been quick to point
out that any sharp rise in ethanol exports
can be met without infringing on the Amazon
or using extra farmland.
However if the future for biofuels is to
be maintained, internationally agreed standards
will be urgently needed--needed to calm
industry and markets and re-assure consumers
that alternative fuels are not only climate
friendly but meet wider environmental and
sustainability goals.
Biologically-based alternatives—like those
being pursued with termite enzymes—may be
part of the solution. Unlike the current
crop-based biofuels, they will utilize cellulose
wastes, may employ skilled or semi-skilled
rather than unskilled labour and perhaps
lead to a new generation of cleaner, biofuel
production centers.
Brazil, home to one fifth of the world’s
biodiversity including numerous species
of termites, is well placed to seize this
opportunity and to maintain leadership as
the biofuel powerhouse of the world—well
placed to ensure that its hard won pole
position in this field is not eclipsed by
new technological developments elsewhere
or by consumer concerns real or imagined.
President Lula’s recent announcement of
close to $5 billion investment in biotechnology
reflects this understanding and underlines
Brazil’s determination to keep one-step
ahead.
UNEP, in partnership with other UN agencies,
industry, the G8 group of nations along
with China and India, is also working through
the new Global Bioenergy Partnership.
Here discussions are underway on standards
setting including possible areas like certification.
It is one approach among several possible
avenues all of which could benefit from
the influence and experience of Brazil and
its rapidly evolving regional and global
role.
In the past Brazil has often viewed international
environmental standards and governance with
some skepticism, perhaps justifiably.
But success in the rapidly globalizing
market place, where much of the focus of
Brazil’s Accelerated Economic Growth Programme
lies, may rest on a multi-lateral approach
So while President Bush may raise the issue
of earth living termites, I plan to seek
President Lula’s support for standards setting
and a truly sustainable regulatory framework
for biofuels when I have the pleasure to
meet him in Brasilia in a few days time—I
am sure Brazil is ready to take this lead.
The future of biofuels clearly lies in
the soils. The question is whether that
future is in crops or in second generation
fuels like those possible from termite enzymes.
Or perhaps like so much of Brazil’s transport
fuels, a blend of both—of the old established
technology and the new rapidly emerging
ones.
