At the Greenhouse 2007 conference, a report was released citing that among plants under investigation as biofuel sources, two — jatropha and spartina — were banned in Australia and featured on a global list of the 30 most invasive plants.
Last week the Petra group announced plans at the Clinton Global Initiative meetings for a $136 million jatropha plantation and biodiesel refinery in the West Indies. Other jatropha projects are underway in Brazil, India, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Jatropha is also under investigation for a number of African countries.
Jatropha is not named in the Global Invasive Species database, nor among the 100 worst invasive species list.
In Florida, researchers at the Florida native plant Society have raised a red flag over the possibility that jatropha could become an invasive species, like kudzu and melaleuca before it. The Florida ...
Last week, Biofuels Digest reported on a study from Australia which was presented at the Greenhouse 2007 conference. Media reports stated that the report, by Tim Low and Carol Booth, placed jatropha a...
In India, Kannur University announced an agreement with France's Institute for Research and Development to convert water hyacinth to ethanol. Water hyacinth is an invasive species that spreads across ...
At the Greenhouse 2007 conference, a report was released citing that among plants under investigation as biofuel sources, two -- jatropha and spartina -- were banned in Australia and featured on a glo...
Dream Fuels donated 1,500 jatropha seedlings to Lee County for a 1-acre demonstration farm. The county plans to use jatropha and restaurant grease to produce biodiesel fuel for the county fleet.
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Researchers at the Department of Agriculture and the University of Toronto said that one-third of US kudzu plants could be harvested for ethanol production and would yield up to 270 gallons per acre. ...
CB | Oct 7, 2007 | Reply
We are the authors of this report on weedy biofuels which, unfortunately, was quoted incorrectly by a journalist. We list giant reed (Arundo donax) - often promoted as e-grass - as the biofuel crop that, along with Spartina, appears on the list of 30 most invasive plants, not jatropha. Jatropha is certainly a weed in many countries, a fact that biofuel advocates should acknowledge, but we do not claim that it has a place on any particular list.
If you download our report at http://www.invasives.org.au/issues/biofuels.html you will see that it is a fully referenced report that accurately describes the weed problems posed by various proposed biofuel crops.
Here is the press release we issued:
Many plants being promoted as biofuels are serious weeds that should not be grown, a new assessment by the Invasive Species Council has found.
In a report released at the Greenhouse 2007 climate change conference in Sydney, the Invasive Species Council explained that some biofuel crops “have bad reputations as weeds without any proven value as crops.â€
Seven plants considered promising as biofuels are banned as noxious weeds in parts of Australia: jatropha, spartina, castor oil plant, Chinese apple, olive, willows, and poplars.
Two species – giant reed and spartina – appear on the IUCN’s ‘List of 100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Species’. Giant reed is now on trial as a biofuel crop in South Australia and in Florida, despite the enormous weed problems it causes around the world. In California alone, many millions of dollars are spent each year destroying it.
“We should not try to solve one environmental problem by creating another,†said ISC spokesman and report author, Tim Low. “These plants have no proven value as biofuel crops but bad reptuations as weeds.â€
Jatropha is widely promoted as a “miracle crop†but there is no technology for harvesting its seeds. It is closely related to bellyache bush, one of the worst weeds of farmland in northern Australia.
“The naïve enthusiasm shown for jatropha and other weedy biofuel plants recalls the enthusiasm shown for cane toads in a past age,†said Tim, “and the outcome may be similar.â€
“We should be very wary of over-hyped agricultural ventures, as past experience with golden apple snails and deer farming has shown.”
Any plant proposed as a biofuel should be assessed first for its environmental impact. Governments and biofuel experts have largely failed to acknowledge that the weed risk exists, an unacceptable situation.
The report can be downloaded from the Invasive Species Council website at http://www.invasives.org.au/issues/biofuels.html
Tim Low & Carol Booth