Dear Group Members,
      Newspaper Rajasthan Patrika reported on October 08, 2007 that 25
children of Katrurba School, Ahmedabad were hospitalized due to
Jatropha poisoning, For this Hindi news visit this link.

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:NZdBOLNIuE0J:www.rajasthanpatrika.com/News/c\
ity_inner.php%3FDID%3D12%26NewsID%3D693900%26TID%3D0+%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%A8\
+%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A4&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=in


Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
     It is news of November 28, 2007 from Hosangabad, Madhya Pradesh,
India. Newspaper Raj Express have published pictures of hospitalized
children along with news.

http://www.rajexpress.in/newsindetail.htm?newsId=15237&slotId=127


Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
        Continuous reports on Jatropha poisoning in children from
different corners of world are very shocking and painful. Whatever you
have noted through previous posts are result of Internet search. Most
of the regional papers are not on-line. Hence this information is only
tip of iceberg. Few hours back I got call from Madhya Pradesh that ten
children were hospitalized due to Jatropha poisoning. I am trying to
get more details.

I have written Hindi article on this issue. You can read it from this link
http://kisanokeliye.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_16.html

Lets pray for better health of affected children and also curse the
Jatropha promoters responsible for these cases.


regards
Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
       This is news of Dec. 12, 2007 from Panchi village, Chandinagar,
Bagpat (UP), India where nearly two dozen children were hospitalized
due to Jatropha poisoning. For details please see this link

http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/local/uttarpradesh/4_1_3983619.html


Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
      It is case of Feburary, 2007. Details are here. I have informed
you about it earlier also.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/32450/Tuba-tuba-fruit-poisons-14-kids-in-Iloilo
Tuba-tuba fruit poisons 14 kids in Iloilo
02/28/2007 | 06:16 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Fourteen schoolchildren in La Paz, Iloilo were rushed to a hospital
after eating fruits of the herbal plant tuba-tuba, GMA News reported
Wednesday.

Doctors at the Western Visayas Medical Center said the victims, all
grade four pupils of NJ Ingore Elementary School, were now in stable
conditions.

Eight of them were already sent home while the six others were still
undergoing treatment.

The report said the children picked and ate the fruit during their
recess period. After eating tuba-tuba, the victims felt dizzy and vomited.

Also on Wednesday, Sun-Star Zamboanga reported that three children
were rushed to the hospital in Zamboanga City after eating jatropha
fruits.

The children â€" aged two, three and six years old â€" took bites of the
jatropha while they were playing at San Jose Gusu village over the
weekend.

Jatropha is potentially lethal to humans and animals once ingested.

Doctors at the Zamboanga City Medical Center have declared the kids'
health conditions to be normal. The three were already sent home.

Rodel Agbulos, Zamboanga City health officer, said the children
complained of stomach pains and vomiting after eating jatropha, known
locally as tangan-tangan.

Agbulos was quoted in the Sun-Star report as saying that jatropha
fruits, once eaten, could cause death if medication is not immediately
administered on the patient. - GMANews.TV

=======
Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
     While searching net I got this news. The case is of July, 2007.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=78\
896

(UPDATE 2) 21 pupils poisoned by jatropha nuts in Bohol

By Jhunnex Napallacan
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 05:32pm (Mla time) 07/26/2007

CEBU CITY, Philippines -- Twenty-one elementary students in an
island-village of Tubigon, Bohol were hospitalized for food poisoning
after eating the fruit of tuba-tuba or jatropha tree on Wednesday.

The public school students were on their way home when they passed by
two jatropha trees and started picking the nuts and eating its seeds,
not knowing they were poisonous, physician Adoracion Torregosa,
administrator of the Tubigon Community Hospital, said Thursday.

Torregosa said the students, with ages ranging from 7 to 13 years old,
immediately complained of abdominal pain and headache after they ate
the seeds. Some of them started vomiting, he said.

Tuba-tuba, or jatropha, is considered as one of the country's most
promising sources of bio-fuel today because its nuts contained oil
that can be processed into biodiesel.

But while the plant is also being used in traditional medication, it
has poisonous properties.

The students are all residents of Batasan Island, an islet 30 minutes
by motorized boat from mainland Tubigon, in the central Philippine
province of Bohol.


The children had just been released from their morning class at the
Batasan Island Elementary School at past 11 a.m. when the incident
happened.

Torregosa said the pupils were brought to the hospital at 3 p.m. on
Wednesday, around four hours after the poisoning.

Their parents gave them first aid treatment by making them drink
coconut milk and cooking oil, he said.

"The leader of the group, the one who enticed the other children to
eat the seeds, ate four seeds but he was up and about because (his)
resistance was strong. The rest were the ones who were poisoned,"
Torregosa said.

Torregosa said the children ate the jetropha nuts because they tasted
like peanuts and pili nuts.

Torregosa said the tuba-tuba trees were inside a fence but some
fruit-bearing branches hanged over the road and became easy picking
for the passing children.

Torregosa said that 19 of the children were brought to the town's
hospital. Everlie Bopero, 8, was brought to St. Joseph Clinic in the
town, and John Alfie Oldinaria, 12, was brought to Tagbilaran City's
Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital.

The 19 pupils who were brought to the Tubigon Community Hospital were
Princess Mae Ladrera, 7; Chandrina Premacio, 10; Jollyvie Bañanola, 7;
Jessa Bañanola, 7; Krishia Cosicol, 7; Christine Mae Sucano,7; Jhul
Raven Fernandez, 13; Jenalyn Cubellas, 8; Jonalyn Alipoyo, 8; Dynaven
Saavedra, 7; Aina Plaza, 9; Reggie Premacio, 9; Rica Mejares, 7;
Angelica Cabillo, 8; Billy Joe Premacio, 12; Erica Mae Mejares, 7;
Jerrick Elle, 9; Stephen Oldenaria, 7; and Steven Tabat, 7.

Torregosa said the pupils brought to TCH were given dextrose and
confined overnight. They were released at 10 a.m. on Thursday, he said.

Torregosa said Bopero was already home while Oldinaria was also about
to be released.
=============


Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
           The Tribune, Chandigarh reported on Novem 05, 2007 that 15
children and a woman were hospitalized due to Jatropha poisoning.
Please visit this link for details.

16 fall sick after eating jatropha seeds

Jagadhari, November 5
At least 15 children and a woman fell sick after consuming jatropha
seeds in Chacharauli town near here today.

According to reports, the children, who had gone to play by Yamuna
river, picked the fruits of jathropa tree growing in abundance by the
riverside and ate the kernels.

The sick children were found by a woman, Rasho, who came looking for
her children when they failed to return home.

When Rasho (40) ate the seeds collected by the children, she also
became nauseated and rushed to her neighbours at Harijan Basti to
bring other parents.

The parents rushed the children to various private nursing homes in
Jagadhri town.

While the woman and seven children were discharged after a few hours
of treatment, eight children were still hospitalised and kept under
observation. â€" UNI
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071106/haryana.htm#4

--------

Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
       These sad news are coming from different corner of India.
Newspaper Jagran reported in November 20, 2007 that in Mujaffarnagar
region five adults consumed poisonous seeds of Jatropha considering it
as groundnut seeds. For details please visit at

http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/local/uttarpradesh/4_1_3919526.html

Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
       Newspaper Jagran reported from UP on November 22, 2007 that 3
adults consumed Jatropha seeds and their condition is very critical.
There is no follow up available. For details visit at

http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/local/uttarpradesh/4_1_3925813.html


Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
     Indian state Chhattisgarh based newspaper Highway Channel
published that two children from Tilda-Nevra were hospitalized due to
Jatropha poisoning. For details visit this link

http://deshbandhu.co.in/newhigh/Breakingnews.asp?Details=543


Jatropha is in fruiting this time and as result we are regularly
getting such unfortunate news.


Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
       Newspaper Jagran published on Dec 01, 2007 that in Burhanpur
(UP, India) 14 children were hospitalized due to Jatropha poisoning.
For details please visit this link

http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/local/madhyapradesh/4_7_3951978.html

Now it is clear that why D1 like companies have not grown it in their
own countries. Unfortunately Indian planners are promoting themselves
through Jatropha *shamelessly* at the cost of damage to Indian
Children. What a shame.


Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
       Rajasthan Patrika reported on December 9th, 2007, that 28
children of Foongani village of Sirohi region consumed poisonous
Jatropha seeds and hospitalized in local hospital. As area under this
poisonous plant is increasing, cases of accidental feeding are
increasing at alarming rates.

Here is link of this news clipping
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:ixLMupr1PPsJ:www.rajasthanpatrika.com/patrik\
aleft/shownews.php%3FNewsID%3D730502%26CatID%3D4+%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%A8%E0%\
A4%9C%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A4&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=22&gl=in

Related Link
http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=interactiveTableView&itableId=2482

Hindi Poem written on this aspect by me
Jab bachho ko Ratanjot ke paas khelete paataa hoon. (When I see
children playing near Jatropha)

http://dardhindustani.blogspot.com/2007/07/blog-post_25.html


regards
Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
      You are invited to read this Hindi article on poisonous Jatropha.

http://kisanokeliye.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_14.html


regards
Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Group Members,
       You are invited to read this recent article.


Let’s come forward to save wildlife from poisonous Jatropha.

Pankaj Oudhia

Abstract

Common people are now getting much information about negative effects of
Jatropha on their lives and surroundings but very few of us know that its
plantation inside the dense forest is becoming curse for wild flora and fauna.
This article gives shocking information on this aspect based on field studies
and observations done by author.

http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=earticleView&earticleId=3099&page=-2


regards
Pankaj Oudhia

Shell plans to produce fuel from algae

By Russell Hotten, Industry Editor
Last Updated: 12:36am GMT 12/12/2007

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell is to invest in a new plant in Hawaii
to grow marine algae that can be turned into biofuel.

Europe's largest oil company believes it can start producing
commercial quantities of the fuel after about two years, and sees EU
countries as a key market.

The pilot project, announced yesterday, continues Shell's efforts to
develop new-generation fuels, although sceptics point out that other
companies and government-funded groups have tried and failed to use
algae in the past.
advertisement

Shell, which has taken a majority stake in a joint venture with HR
Biopetroleum, says that the economics and technology of turning algae
into fuel have changed. "This demonstration will be an important test
of the technology and, critically, of commercial viability," said
Graeme Sweeney, Shell's executive vice president of future fuels.

The companies' joint venture, Cellana, will build a facility off the
Hawaii Island coast that will cultivate ponds of algae in seawater.
The vegetable oil will then be converted into a diesel-type fuel which
Mr Sweeney said would be "of high quality".

The thick green algae can double their mass several times a day and
produce at least 15 times more oil per hectare than alternatives such
as palm soya or jatropha.

Mr Sweeney said that, if the pilot project goes to plan the
2.5-hectare facility will be expanded to a 1,000-hectare facility and
then a "full-scale commercial," 20,000-hectare plant. Shell would not
disclose the cost of the investment.

The EU is committed to a big expansion of biofuel use. The 27-nation
bloc wants biofuels to make up an average 5.75pc of transport fuels by
2010 and 10pc by 2020. Biofuels account for about 1pc of EU fuel
consumption.

Mr Sweeney said Cellana "offers the opportunity in due course to meet
the volume required in Europe".

He said that algae can produce on average about 60 tons of oil per
hectare, against about 4 tons of oil per hectare for jatropha.

In the late 1980s the US government funded research into producing
biodiesel from algae. But in the mid 1990s, the Department of Energy
cut funding for the research, choosing to focus resources on
researching production of ethanol, which is produced from sugars in
crops such as corn or cane.

However, in October America's state-funded National Renewable Energy
Laboratory said it was to collaborate with oil company Chevron on
research into producing road fuel from algae.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2007/1\
2/12/cnshell112.xml

Dear Group Members,
    You are invited to read this article.


New observations related to Jatropha failure in India.
by
Pankaj Oudhia

Abstract

Jatropha is performing badly not only in Central India but also in
other parts of India. The article is an effort to present recent
observations on this aspect.

http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=earticleView&earticleId=3097&page=-2


regards
Pankaj Oudhia

Dear Tushar and other members from Orissa,

          Please see this link and get ready to keep close view on this
development. Now time has come to inform common people about the harms
of Jatropha in their language.

BHUBANESWAR: The State-level monitoring committee on Wednesday
approved the Rs 5 crore proposal of the Science and Technology
Department for jatropha plantation and bio-diesel production in KBK
region.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20071205211520&Page=Q&Headline=Ja\
tropha+plantation+to+get+a+boost&Title=ORISSA&Topic=0



regards
Pankaj Oudhia

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the jatropha
group.

   File        : /Reading Material Links.doc
   Uploaded by : pankajoudhia <pankajoudhia@...>
   Description : Reading Material on negative aspects of Biofuel

You can access this file at the URL:
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/jatropha/files/Reading%20Material%20Links.doc

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
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Regards,

pankajoudhia <pankajoudhia@...>

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the jatropha
group.

   File        : /Biofuel consultation Participants LIst.doc
   Uploaded by : pankajoudhia <pankajoudhia@...>
   Description : Participants of National Biofuel Consultation

You can access this file at the URL:
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/jatropha/files/Biofuel%20consultation%20Partici\
pants%20LIst.doc

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
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NGOs oppose bio-fuel crops

Special Correspondent

Foresee a disastrous effect on livelihood of people and food security

Jatropha plantations detrimental to people and the environment

Pressure from corporate lobby attributed to encouragement of the crop

HYDERABAD: A national consultation of people’s movements and NGOs have
warned the governments across the country against aggressive promotion
of bio-fuel crops as they could have a disastrous effect on the
livelihood of people and food security.

At a press conference here on Thursday, P. V. Satheesh of Deccan
Development Society that hosted the consultation, said the large-scale
propagation of plants like jatropha could not be considered as
solution to climate change crisis, as is being projected. It was
leading to takeover of lands, core to food sovereignty of several
families, after falsely considering them “waste”, he said.
Ecological role

In fact, rural and forest communities say that there was nothing
called wastelands as most of these are grazing lands, pastures and
degraded forests on which small and marginal farmers thrive. These
so-called wastelands not only support multitude of livelihoods but
have ecological role to play. “It is time we ask ourselves whether we
grow crops for food or for cars,” he said
‘Hell oil’

Experiences narrated by the participants from Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh vividly brought out the enormous damage
that jatropha, now known in Rajasthan as “hell oil”, was causing to
people and the environment, he said. “In spite of this knowledge,
under intense pressure of the corporate lobby, the neo-liberal
planners are pushing jatropha plantations”.

Participants pointed out that jatropha plantations were highly water-
demanding and processing of biomass for extraction of oil was not
energy efficient and hence not climate- friendly. The participants of
the consultation included Ravi Rebbapragada of Samata, Sagari Ramdas
of Anthra, Mohd. Osman of Central Research Insitutute for Dryland
Agriculture and representatives from various organisations from
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120757450400.htm

Namibia: Energy Crops Could Jeopardise Food Production

New Era (Windhoek)

6 December 2007
Posted to the web 6 December 2007

Wezi Tjaronda
Windhoek

There are fears that countries will pursue energy crops to reduce
carbon emissions produced by fossil fuels at the expense of food crops.

Many countries have put energy crops under experiment but concerns are
rife that if they become viable, they may get a direct conflict with
food crops.

A scientific officer with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO),
Robert Stefanski, said in Geneva recently, countries should be careful
not to replace food crops especially in developing countries where
food security is already at stake.

He mentioned jatropha circus as one such crop that should be
cultivated with such precautions in mind. The crop is resistant to
drought and pests and produces seeds containing up to 40 percent oil.
The seeds can be crushed and used in a standard diesel engine while
the residue can be processed into biomass to power generation plants.

Namibia has chosen jatropha as her preferred bio-energy plant. Of the
other bio-energy crops, such as sunflower, canola and soy, consultants
who prepared the roadmap found jatropha was already being planted as
hedge in the Caprivi and Kavango regions.

The Kyoto Protocol, through the clean development mechanism, aims to
reduce emission of greenhouse gases, which are implicated in global
warming and climate change, and to remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere. The renewable fuel sources can play a role in achieving
this cause.

Prime Investment Ltd, a Namibian registered company, proposed to
establish plantations of jatropha carcus in northern Kavango.

In its environmental impact assessment, the company dispelled
misconceptions that it would jeopardise food production.

The EIA said most households were unable to obtain sufficient food for
their needs from crop production and relied on cash income. While
mahangu production may vary in value between N$30 and N$1200 per
hectare per year, food production was very low.

The EIA said while there were concerns that cash crops would replace
food crops and reduce food self-sufficiency, local people invested
very little in agriculture because of low and unreliable output.


"They already depend on cash incomes to provide for most of their
nutritional needs," the EIA said.

The 1994 and 2004 Household Income and Expenditure Survey showed that
consumption of non-food goods rose from 37 percent to 63 percent
during that period. It added that the figures indicated that the
economy of rural Kavango was no longer simply a subsistence economy
but an emerging cash economy, even though people were still relatively
poor.

The project intends to utilise 65000 hectares of land of which 75
percent has been lying fallow or has been abandoned, meaning that the
75 percent could be planted to jatropha without any impact on food
production, it said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712060544.html

From Cgnet.in group

Chhattisgarh tribals losing land to biofuel

By Savita Verma in New Delhi

Santosh, a tribal woman, is in the Capital to tell the high and mighty
how villagers back home are being threatened to give up their lands
for cultivation of jatropha. The plant is being promoted in the
country as a source of biofuel due to its high oil content.

The 23-year-old from Chhattisgarh' s Bilaspur district is not alone.
Dharam Singh, a Gond, also wants his voice heard.
The two say forest officials in the state are pressuring them to give
up their land.

"They have sent us notices asking us to vacate our land to make it
available for planting jatropha. They say we will be sent to jail if
we don't vacate. How can we vacate the land which we have been
cultivating for generations, " Santosh says.

The notices have been sent to two other villages, she says. Together,
these villages would constitute over 300 acres of land. Before coming
to Delhi, the villagers knocked on the chief minister's doors for
redress. But nothing has come out of their appeal.

According to the Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act,
1996, tribals should be given the right to decide what to do with
their commons land. However, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan governments
consider village commons as wasteland, which can be used for jatropha
cultivation.
The Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Environment has
carried out a study in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Vidarbha on the
impact of biofuel promotion on villagers. It says that land assets of
the villages are being appropriated, tribal rights are being trampled
upon, bio-diversity is under threat and food production is falling.

"In Chhattisgarh, agricultural crops of tribals have been destroyed to
plant jatropha. The tribals are being denied their right to decide
upon what to do with their commons, which is a violation of the legal
recognition of collective rights and the Panchayats Act," Manu
Shankar, a researcher with the foundation, said. Tribal villagers, he
said, are opposed to jatropha plantations.

"The spread of industrial biofuel is not solving the problem of
climate change. It is instead creating landlessness. The diversion of
food crops to fuel has led to increase in food prices," Dr Vandana
Shiva, the foundation's director said.
The process would exacerbate poverty and undermine sustainability. It
would also affect bio-diversity, she warns.
Chhattisgarh, for example, is known to grow about thousands of
varieties of rice but these are in danger because of the emphasis on
jatropha cultivation. Similarly, in Rajasthan, numerous varieties of
medicinal plants and grasses are under threat due to promotion of
bio-fuels.
"Village commons need to be protected and their transfer to industry
for jatropha plantations must be immediately stopped," Shiva said.

Bio-fuels are being proposed as a major solution to address the
climate crisis. Their use is supposed to cut down the emission of the
green house gases, which are responsible for global warming and
climate change.

However, the process of converting crops like soya, corn and palm into
liquid fuels uses up more fossil fuel than it substitutes and thus can
actually raise carbon dioxide levels. "The US will use 20 per cent of
its corn to produce five billion gallons of ethanol which will
substitute just one per cent of oil use. If 100 per cent of corn was
used, only seven per cent of the total oil would be substituted, "
Shiva said.

She said it is the US' demand for energy that is responsible for
promotion of biofuel cultivation in a big way. "The US is pushing
Third World nations to take up biofuel production on a large scale so
that their energy needs get met."

savita.verma@ mailtoday. in

Published in www.mailtoday. in page 2-3 on 2nd Dec 2007

Don’t sacrifice food crops for Jatropha'
By Bongile Mavuso

LOCALS have been encouraged to use their own land to grow jatropha
plant which will be used to produce bio- fuel by D1- BP Fuels.

The company already has land allocated to ploughing the crop at Hluti
and Croydon but it is still not enough as they are still about 8 000
hectares short.

One of the Directors Gaetan Ning said they do not encourage people to
give up their food crops and sacrifice land for jatropha but can use
unused fields.

Ning said farmers can simply use land reserves that divide their
fields, especially in the rural areas, which would also protect their
food crops like maize, grown in the field. One of the agriculturalists
at the D1 Oil farm at Hluti, Solomon Masuku, said ploughing the tree
around one’s field can protect the crops in the field from livestock
as cattle and goats do not consume it. “Most Swazis have known the
tree for a very long time as it had been growing wild and sometimes
used as hedge. Others would plant it to easily identify graves in a
community graveyard. It can grow to up to six metres but the size can
be controlled. However, people can spare up 500 hectares for minimum
profit,” he said. Ning stated that the crop was good for bio- mass
production and a lot of studies go into the plant to check oil content
and other qualities of the different jatropha plants as they sometimes
vary. Meanwhile, Masuku said people need to treat jatropha like a
vegetable that needs special attention when it is still a seedling as
it may sometimes lead to stagnant growth of crop when not treated with
proper care. “The first six months are the most vital and the plant
needs special care for that long. Good husbandry is important,” he
added. He said the demand for the crops was high from locals and they
still needed more people to come forth and get the seedlings grown in
their nursery.
http://www.observer.org.sz/main.php?id=40147&section=Business

Today's biofuel crops may be tomorrow's weeds
	 PRINT FRIENDLY  EMAIL STORY
PM - Monday, 3 December , 2007  18:38:00
Reporter: Paula Kruger
MARK COLVIN: The Bali climate change summit started today and many of
those attending would be already aware that sometimes, the solution
can also be part of the problem.

One of the solutions proposed has been biofuel but biofuel can bring
its own devastation.

Thousands of hectares of forest in Indonesia, for instance, have been
logged to make way for biofuels.

There are also concerns about the environmental damage that biofuels
could cause in Australia.

Some of the plants being proposed as biofuel crops are weeds which
could have a devastating impact on wildlife across the country.

Paula Kruger reports.

PAULA KRUGER: The struggle to find alternative energy sources that
don't contribute to climate change has created a boom in biofuels.

This is something worries Tim Low from the Invasive Species Council.
He says some biofuel crops could have a devastating impact on the
Australian landscape.

TIM LOW: We don't have enough arable land. I mean that is very well
recognised by CSIRO so then you get the promotion of plants that are
highly weedy so they actually can be grown on marginal
non-agricultural land but that carries a very high weed risk.

PAULA KRUGER: Are there plants that you classify as weeds that are
being proposed right now as biofuel crops in Australia?

TIM LOW: Oh absolutely. The South Australian government is very
gung-ho about promoting giant reed. Now that is on the World
Conservation Union of 100 of the world's worst invaders.

Now their scientific unit SARDI has active trials underway right now
and this is a rank grass. It grows about seven or eight metres high
which has taken over waterways in California. In California they are
spending millions of dollars a year removing it. They have a
biological control program to bring in insects to eat it up. The South
Australian government is promoting it.

Then there is jatropha, which is a weed around the world that has been
declared a prohibited weed in Western Australia and the Northern
Territory. Queensland government is planning to allow trials and a
meeting will be held Thursday this week to consider the future of those.

This is very, very ongoing.

PAULA KRUGER: You have already raised concerns. You had a recent
report that raised your concerns about the weed potential in biofuels.
Have those concerns been taken seriously at this stage?

TIM LOW: They certainly are by government agencies. There is a lot of
scepticism so you've got public servants who are being told by their
governments to promote biofuels but they recognise exactly the kind of
problems that I am talking about.

I mean this information is very widespread in the literature but
because there is a popular demand to do something, politicians are
hearing that. They are offering investments, investment grants for
biofuels and so people need to acquit these grants even though in some
cases they personally recognise that there just doesn't seem to be
much in this.

PAULA KRUGER: So it is government funding that is driving an industry
that could cause a big environmental problem for Australia?

TIM LOW: That's right and that is certainly the case with jatropha
where I have actually talked to the officer who is dispensing grants.
I said look, why are getting behind jatropha, I mean this isn't the
right plan at all and he is saying that no-one else is applying for
the grant.

PAULA KRUGER: Deborah O'Connell from Sustainable Ecosystems at the
CSIRO says the weed risk, of biofuel crops are being taken seriously.

DEBORAH O'CONNELL: These new plants are one of a range of strategies
that we could have and I think they need to be evaluated not only for
their weed potential but also for their yield because at the moment, a
lot of the yield has been quoted very high numbers of four to 8,000
litres of oil per hectare are based largely on overseas results and
they haven't been looked at in Australia.

PAULA KRUGER: So there is still a lot more work to be done in
Australia when it comes to researching appropriate biofuel crops?

DEBORAH O'CONNELL: Absolutely, absolutely. There is a lot of work to
be done particularly in that area because we have very little idea of
the yields of those things as well as the biosecurity risks.

PAULA KRUGER: The Invasive Species council is calling on the new
federal government to form a steering committee that can work with the
states so there is a more cohesive policy on offering grants for
biofuel crops.

MARK COLVIN: Paula Kruger.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s2108465.htm

Biofuels, blessing or curse?

by Thijs Westerbeek*

03-12-2007

Biofuels are controversial. Proponents point to their climate-neutral
character (the growing plants have already absorbed the carbon dioxide
released during burning), but opponents point out that the production
of biofuels carries enormous societal costs and causes ecological
damage. Let's weigh the pros and cons.

Rapeseed
Yellow, beautiful and clean:
Rapeseed in full bloom in Britain
From some perspectives, biofuels are a disaster. Tropical rainforests
are chopped down to make way for palm oil plantations, farmers in poor
countries are driven off their land and monoculture leads to the
destruction of biodiversity. However, the market for biofuels is
growing explosively.

Indonesia
According to Sawit Watch, an Indonesian non-governmental organisation
that studies issues surrounding palm oil plantations, between 1999 to
2004, some 400,000 hectors of palm oil plantations were planted
annually in Indonesia alone.

Some of the plantations were opened in protected areas such as Tanjung
Puting National Park and the Danau Sentarum Nature Reserve in Kalimantan.

Norman Jiwan of Sawit Watch says biodiversity is being seriously
damaged by monoculture palm oil plantations. He says that the growing
world consumption of palm oil must be halted or any attempt to prevent
deforestation is doomed to failure.

Non-food biofuels
There are alternatives for palm oil and other biofuels made from
edible plants and it is unnecessary to use valuable arable land to
grow them. It is possible to extract oil from plants that grow in
areas that are unsuitable for growing crops.

The Netherlands has been conducting a pilot project for sustainable
bio-diesel for some time. The first clean 'petrol' station opened
recently in Amsterdam's North district. You can fill up your car with
PPO, or pure plant oil, made from rape or jatropha seeds. Cars run on
PPO emit less soot and sulphur dioxide. Using PPO also reduces
carbon-dioxide emissions. Paulien Westendorp director of the
Opgwekt.nu Foundation says:

"At the moment, you can only fill up with rape oil but starting in
2008, people will be able to fill their cars with jatropha oil. She
also favours jatropha oil as the proceeds go to small farmers."

Jatropha seeds
Jatropha seeds
Ms Westendorp says that biofuels are not necessarily bad but that the
situation in countries such as Indonesia and South America cannot be
allowed to continue. Both the environment and local people are
suffering in order to produce biofuels for rich western countries.

Manure
There is another solution: instead of bio-oil you choose biogas. Test
farm Nij Bosma Zahte near Leeuwarden is making bio gas from cow manure.

A mixture of corn, sunflowers and other waste products from the food
industry form the basis for the fermentation process that produces
biogas. It is excellent for producing electricity and can heat entire
neighbourhoods. Biogas delivers a 50 percent reduction in carbon
dioxide emissions and means that no fossil fuels are being burned.

Diego Cardona of Friends of the Earth International says that other
methods of producing sustainable energy have not been fully developed
and deserve a chance.
"All eyes are on biofuels but we are forgetting other sustainable and
local sources of energy such as sun, wind and water. Neither wind or
sun energy have had the necessary impulse or investigation to fully
develop their potential, probably because agribusinesses have been
protecting their interests. Of course there are alternatives for
fossil fuels but you always have to take people in poor regions into
account and make sure that you look at the entire picture".

* RNW Translation (jc)



Tags: bio-oil, biofuels, carbon dioxide, climate change, fossil fuels,
Friends of the Earth, jatropha seed, rapeseed, solar energy,
sustainable energy

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/development/071203-biofuels-mc

Africa Looks Toward Biofuels Amid Doubts Over Yields

"From what I have heard there was very little knowledge about jatropha
in terms of the behavior of the plant, the plantation level and so on,
how the pests respond, [and] if you grow it at scale," he explained.
"So the people we talked to who were actually into jatropha gave us
the impression that they were going down this road, they were seeing
an opportunity, but they themselves were not quite sure of what the
yields would be like."

http://voanews.com/english/2007-11-29-voa54.cfm