UN-Energy new report on Biofuels: what about GM crops?
Politics of Food and Health
Rachel Dechenne
May 20, 2007
Excerpt…
The United Nations (1) newly released report Sustainable Bioenergy: A Framework for Decision Makers (2) is supposed to offer a comprehensive picture of the current biofuels issue. The consensus is:
1. Need for integrated policy analysis that prioritise food security: Policy makers need to understand the interactions and effects of the policy domains that are shaping the development of liquid biofuels sector (energy, environment, agriculture and trade) at the various levels (national, regional and global).
2. The linking of agricultural commodity to biofuels production is an essential but not ideal transition to a biofuels industry that does not rely on major commodity crops.
3. Major efforts have to be put in the development of 2nd generation cellulosic technologies that convert biomass into fuels.
All good stuff, though tricky to implement because of among other things, the logistics of this new sector, market distortions based on subsidies and the huge tax incentives required for the market to take off. What disappointed me, a bit, is the one only mention of the GM crops question. See page 48 point b:" ...It is also critical to better determine if the benefits of GM crops can outweigh their costs...” It would have been good to have a common statement expressing more doubt about the benefit of using GM crops for biofuels production. It left open the debate and somehow supports the new strategy of GM manufacturers….
Full post at Politics of Food and Health.
