The increased focus of the world on the use of biofuel as an antidote to the environmentally polluting oil and coal can have severe implications on the economy, social life and even the environment whose friend it’s being much touted as.
As EU strives to meet 10 % of its energy requirements from biofuel by 2020 and the multi billion doller biofuel industry makes efforts to provide about 25 % of all energy needs within 20 years, everybody seems to have forgotten about the other side of the coin.
Large scale cultivation of energy crops would lead to mass scale deforestation and would take the best land currently being used for growing food crops. Whereas the former would lead to loss of bio diversity, soil erosion and nutrient depletion of soil, loss of habitat for forest animals, many of them endangered, the latter would lead to severe food shortage and price volatility of food grains. Although the economists argue that the trend would be beneficial for farmers as they would get better price for their harvest and for the poor countries where most of such cultivation is supposed to happen in the future, there is a dark side to this too. As the food prices rise it would be increasingly difficult for poor countries to afford food and even the emergency food aid would get costlier. Resulting rising inflation would impoverish masses particularly in developing and under developed countries.
There is a need to take a holistic approach to the problem of energy crisis and such one sided approaches would only add more misbalance to the nature.
As EU strives to meet 10 % of its energy requirements from biofuel by 2020 and the multi billion doller biofuel industry makes efforts to provide about 25 % of all energy needs within 20 years, everybody seems to have forgotten about the other side of the coin.
Large scale cultivation of energy crops would lead to mass scale deforestation and would take the best land currently being used for growing food crops. Whereas the former would lead to loss of bio diversity, soil erosion and nutrient depletion of soil, loss of habitat for forest animals, many of them endangered, the latter would lead to severe food shortage and price volatility of food grains. Although the economists argue that the trend would be beneficial for farmers as they would get better price for their harvest and for the poor countries where most of such cultivation is supposed to happen in the future, there is a dark side to this too. As the food prices rise it would be increasingly difficult for poor countries to afford food and even the emergency food aid would get costlier. Resulting rising inflation would impoverish masses particularly in developing and under developed countries.
There is a need to take a holistic approach to the problem of energy crisis and such one sided approaches would only add more misbalance to the nature.
2 comments:
Hey Ankur,
your point of view is correct that there will be a rise in inflation because of lack of food crops...I would like to add something more in it. My point is, generally every farmer rotates the crop cycle to maintain the fertility of the soil, so if only energy crops will be produced for a long time, the soil will not be fertile any more. So more or less, we are actually putting our own life in danger.
But, I don't think that EU or US would take this aspect into account because most people are non-vegitarian. Anyways...they should think over it.
~Abhishek
Thanks Abhishek for your comments.
I would contend that whereas EU and US are very much dependent on non vegetarian food, they have a comparable vegetarian consumption. Their eating habits, even in purely vegetarian food, are much thoughtful and judicious than our's.
Would look forward to your valuable comments in future too.
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