Biofuels or agrofuels are crops that are produced for energy production. Globally, biofuels demand and production is rising dramatically. Biofuels often emit less carbon dioxide than fossil fuels. However, there are also negative sides attached to this development.
The new demand for enormous areas of land and water is a new pressure on the remaining natural areas and on areas that are in fact not suited for sustainable biofuel production, like peatlands.
Growing demand
The growing demand for biofuel is one of the major driving forces behind the destruction of tropical peatlands in South-east Asia. More than 50% of all new plantations are established in the peatlands of Indonesia and Malaysia. Biofuel is often made from oil from palm trees, a crop that needs deep drainage of the peat. This drainage leads to oxidation of the peat into carbon dioxide.
Furthermore, due to the drainage the peat often catches fire, leading to even higher emissions. This makes the use of palm oil produced on tropical peatsoils many times more (up to 10 times) polluting than burning fossil fuels.
What we do
Wetlands International is closely involved in this subject and we have achieved a lot of media outreach on the issue of palm oil, peatland destruction and the related carbon dioxide emissions.
Wetlands International is member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). In this role, we are advocating a certification scheme with social and environmental criteria.
We demand attention and push for resolution on the adverse impacts of biofuels at the 2008 Convention on Biodiversity and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
We successfully addressed the Dutch government (advising on the biofuel policies, commission Cramer). This led to the exclusion in 2007 of palm oil from green energy subsidies.
We successfully addressed the European Commission (advising on the biofuel directive and renewable energy directive). This led to th exclusion of biofuels produces on wetlands from supportive schemes.
We directly engage with the corporate sector (cooperation with the palm oil sector to advise on good and bad practices)