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11 April, 2008
In next two years, SECCI intends to put on approval these principles in five projects, to which it plans to finance, and it will promote four regional meetings of the interested parts to make sure that the actors from Latin America contribute to write the global norms of sustantion of the biofuels. With 40 percent of the global production of bioethanol and a market of biodiesel that is quickly expanding to satisfy the demands of the region and of Europe, Latin America is a world leader of the industry of the biofuels. From Mexico to the Argentina, farmers, companies, governments and rural communities are investing in a change toward the biofuels while grows the conscience on its enormous potential to prevent the climatic change and to create new economic opportunities in the rural areas. But without protection, some biofuels can have negative impacts, including the deforestation of valuable forests, affecting the wild life’s habitat, due to the increment of arable land, the use of scarce water, and the reduction of available lands for the food production.¼br />  To foment such cautions, in April of the 2007, a group of companies, organizations of the civil society, experts, governments and intergovernmental groups started a Round Table on Sustainable Fuels to develop until June of this year standards and global norms for the production and the biofuels prosecution, to assure that the biofuels fulfills their promise of sustainability. “Hundred of interested people from around the world have been involved in developing the principles of the Round Table on Sustainable Fuels from its launching, almost one year behind†Claude Martin said, former Director-general of WWF International and President of the Board of directors of the Round Table. “When agreeing to put on approval these principles in the projects that are going to be financed, and when supporting the integration of more producers of Latin America, ONGs, and governments in our own work, the IDB is showing a real commitment with this multi-participative process.†The Bank is committed in the financing of projects that assure the sustainable developmentâ€, said Juan Pablo Bonilla, Coordinator of SECCI and former Vice minister of Environment in Colombia. “We are extremely interested in putting on approval the standards that are being developed in the Round Table in real projects to which we finance, to make sure that they are contributing with our vision of a future with sustainable energy.†The first regional meeting of the interested parts that will take place under this new association will do so in Bogotá, Colombia. It is expected that more than 60 associated of Central and South America discuss the draft of standards of the Round Table and how they can be implemented in the context of Latin America. Controversial topics as the global increment of prices of foods and the agricultural expansion that threatens valuable conservation areas will be debated in an open atmosphere and of search of consents, with the intention of guaranteeing the promotion of opportunities for the region and the reduction of the associates risks. The Inter-American Development Bank The IDB, the oldest and biggest regional bank of development in the world, is the main source of multilateral financing for the economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its loans and donations help the financing of development projects and promote strategies to reduce the poverty, to increase the growth, to increase the commerce and the investment, it promotes the regional integration and foments the development in the private sector and the modernization of the State. In 2006 the IDB launched the Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) constituted by four pillars, one of them biofuels. Specifically, the biofuel pillar provides a platform to channel the necessary help in specific lines of activity, including the evaluations of economic viability of the biofuels, political help at country level for the biofuel development, financial help for the development of raw materials, facilities of biofuels production and related infrastructure for the production and distribution, as well as for the help in the development and adaptation of emergent technologies. Round table on Sustainable Fuels. The Round Table on Sustainable Fuels is an initiative of multiple interested parts, integrated by farmers, companies, governments, organizations of the civil society, experts, and intergovernmental agencies that intends to develop standards for the sustainable biofuel production, through a transparent advisory process. More than 200 organizations of 30 countries are participating at the moment in open video conferences through Work groups, regional meetings of the interested parts and discussions in the Internet to create standards that can assure that the biofuels are able to fulfill their sustainability promise. The Secretariat of the Round Table has its headquarters in the Center of Energy of the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), one of the two federal institutions of technology of Switzerland. The founding members of its Board of directors include, among other, people coming from the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF), Toyota, BP, the Mali Folkecenter, National Wildlife Federation, Shell, the governments from Holland and Switzerland, the Foundation of the UN, Petrobras, the World Economic Forum, the University of California in Berkeley, Bunge, and TERI India. Deje un comentario |
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