World Wildlife Fund exonerates ethanol on Amazonian deforestation and food production

The World Wildlife Fund has concluded, in a new study profiled on the BBC, that “ethanol production is not having a significant impact on food production, and that it is not contributing to deforestation in the Amazon.” The report concludes that sugar cane ethanol has a positive impact on the environment. The report called for strict monitoring to protect remaining rainforest areas.”

In Brazil, the federal government announced a crackdown on illegal deforestation in the Amazonian rainforest. Biofuels producers have been accused of causing deforestation, however the authorities are targeting soy farmers, cattle ranchers and illegal timber operators in 36 pockets where increased deforestation has occurred. An emergency meeting of the Brazilian cabinet had been been called by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after a 50 percent jump in deforestation rates, following a steady three-year decline.

A German academic has analyzed the factors that are causing deforestation of the Amazon, and concluded that sugarcane ethanol production in south-central Brazil is not pushing cattle and soy farming into the Amazon region. Peter Zuurbier, Associate Professor and Director of the Wageningen UR Latin America Office, said that the problem is unclear land titles, unscrupulous timber companies, and poor soil conservation practices by cattle ranchers. He said that after illegal clear cutting by timber companies, the land is occupied by nomadic cattle herds that, over a period of 3 to 4 years, ruin the thin soil of the Amazon areas, which causes fertilizer-based soy farming to be brought into the area to improve productivity.

Researchers say that Amazonian deforestation has increased in pace in 2007 and is likely to rise throughout 2008. Carlos Nobre, a scientist with Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, said that 2,300 square miles of forest had been converted to farmland in the past four months, compared with 3,700 square miles in the 12 months ending last July.

A Leeds University professor and expert on deforestation issues said that recent data indicates that, on a global basis, some types of tropical forest have increased since 1990, rather than decreasing. He said that losses in areas such as the Amazon have been more than offset in tropical forest gains in countries such as the Gambia and Vietnam.

In Bali late last year, the World Wildlife Fund released a report concluding that half of the Amazon rainforest would disappear by 2030 and would release 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result, or twice the annual emissions of all countries combined. At the Clinton Global Initiative earlier this year, primate scientist Jane Goodall said that crops growing for biofuels is damaging rain forests in Asia, Africa and South America and adding to the emissions blamed for global warming.

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