Agrofuels platform final report
The final DPRN process report for the Agrofuels platform can be downloaded here.
Agrofuels - good or bad?
According to some, the production and use of agrofuels will help to tackle the climate crisis, while providing new opportunities for farmers. Others emphasize the risks to food security, biodiversity and new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One thing is clear, there is an urgent need for more information regarding the effects of agrofuel production on people and the environment. Policymakers, however, are impatient and take decisions on the basis of assumptions, while their underlying motives are not always properly communicated. These decisions can have grave consequences.
In response to this, a group of Dutch research institutions and NGOs within DPRN created a ‘knowledge platform’ whose aim is to contribute to an overview of the available (scientific) knowledge, as well as the interests and motives of the various stakeholders. Currently no such overview exists. Creating one will hopefully lead to better informed policymakers and businesses.
The platform is referred to as the ’agrofuels platform’, and consists of Both Ends, IUCN-NL, AMIDSt/UvA, Cordaid, Mekon Ecology, Alterra, ETC, WUR Law and Governance Group, CML/Leiden University and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We decided to use the term agrofuels, because we are interested in the production of energy crops on agricultural lands, while the term agrofuels also covers fuels produced from waste products, algae, etc.
Online knowledge platform
Members of the platform share knowledge and information through the website http://np-net.pbworks.com. A section of this website is reserved for this process, entitled: "Fuelling knowledge on the social and ecological impacts of agrofuels production".
The website is coordinated by Natureandpoverty.net – the knowledge network of IUCN National Committee of The Netherlands – and provides access to hundreds of documents on agrofuels in general and agrofuels in particular. The documents cover a wide range of topics, from the environmental and social effects of production to criteria setting and policies in countries in the South. There is also a section on policy recommendations made by NGOs. Most sections of the website are open to anyone interested in the topic. Some parts cannot be accessed by all because they are intended for information exchanges between platform members.
Activities
(For more information on the activities below see the online knowledge platform)
Paper:
A report on agrofuels is to be published as a key document for the expert meeting in February. This report is to include information on the current state of affairs regarding agrofuels in general, and the assumptions Dutch policy makers use to justify the use of agrofuels. The report is to be based on literature and interviews with experts.
Study day at Ministry of VROM (20 August 2009):
On the macro-effects of bio-mass production for energy purposes: the perceptions of Dutch, Brazilian and Indonesian experts.
CERES Summer School (3 July 2009):
Two workshops were held at the CERES summers school 2009 in which Dutch researchers prestented case-study material from producing countries on forces driving agrofuel expansion and its effects.
Expert meeting:
The platform is going to organise a meeting with private sector actors, NGO's, and policymakers to be held in February 2010.
Process outcome:
The agrofuels platform submitted a project pre-proposal to the Global Sustainable Biomass Fund for research on the mitigation of indirect effects of agrofuel production in Indonesia.
