04/07/2008 (Inter Press Service), Tokyo - Japan wants countries to reconsider biofuels as an alternative technology to fight climate change by using fuel cell cars at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit on Jul. 4-7. The vehicles will transport the leaders of the world's major industrialised nations when they gather on the northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido.

Honda will display its most advanced environmental technologies with its FX Clarity and Civic Hybrid. They run on a blend of fuel made from straw.

The world is increasingly turning to biofuels as a way to ease pressure from rising oil prices. But critics say biofuels may create more greenhouse gas than they save. Clearing natural forests to plant fuel plantations releases more carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and using food crops for fuel production is at odds with boosting the global food supply.

But not everyone agrees with this argument. "Blaming biofuels for causing a food crisis is a useful distraction for the world's policy-makers from the real problem, which is an increasing overpopulation of the planet, leading to rapid increase in the use of fossil fuels and global warming," said Mike Taylor, CFO of Asia Resource Partners KK.

"I'm not suggesting that the solution isn't complicated, but it comes down to basic economics of supply and demand," he told IPS. "The world's supply of fossil fuels is finite. As such, increased demand coupled with a finite supply of any raw material will always lead to increased prices."

"There are many types of biofuels, so suggesting they are all equally bad, and are all net creators of greenhouse gases is equally misleading," he added. "It is true that some of the biofuel technologies need to be improved, to reduce their fossil fuel inputs."

The Indonesian palm oil industry, which is used for fuel production, is an example of the controversy. The Indonesian Palm Oil Commission (IPOC) states in its pamphlet "compared to tropical forest, oil palm plantations possess several environmental advantages; it consumes more carbon dioxide (CO2) and releases more oxygen (O2) than tropical forest, which is beneficial to the environment."

Some scientists dispute this claim. However, according to Taylor, "The real problem here is not the balance of CO2 input versus O2 from a palm oil plantation, but the destruction of virgin rainforest and the loss of the natural habitat for indigenous species living in the forests to create a palm plantation."

Biofuel technologies are only in their infancy and need further research and investment to improve their efficiency, he said.

Hiroshi Shiraiwa, director of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council, also believes biofuels can be a solution. "We should not eliminate any biofuels as long as they are sustainable under a certain criteria," he said. "And more careful assessment will be necessary before we arrive at the final answer."

Biofuels have become a scapegoat, according to Shiraiwa. "Scapegoating was necessary for politicians and governments to conceal their inability and negligence for promoting continuous investment in the agriculture and rural development over the past decades," he told IPS. "I believe that with sufficient amount of investment into the agriculture sector, especially in the technological development, infrastructure and extension services, we could achieve food security."

Shiraiwa says there also needs to be more land development. For example, with the limited acreage for crop production, the U.S. doesn't have any surplus land anymore.

"In my opinion, countries should set up target figures for biofuels production based on availability of feedstock, such as agricultural crops," Shirawai said. "It is important to recognise that even the U.S. could only supply a small percentage of biofuels to replace gasoline use with the first generation of biofuels."

First generation biofuel technologies are restricted because they are not cost-competitive with fossil fuels such as oil, and some save only limited greenhouse gas emissions.

Second generation biofuels aim to increase the amount of biofuel that can be produced by using the residue of crops, such as stems, leaves and husks that are left behind once the food crop has been taken out, plus other crops that are not used for food purposes, including cereals and industry wastes like wood chips and pulp from fruit pressing.

However, this second generation technology to produce biofuels will not appear anytime soon.

Rural areas of the world are home to two billion people whose livelihoods depend on the 450 million smallholder farms scattered across the globe, often in vulnerable and marginal areas, according to Farhana Haque Rahman of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The seriousness of the situation must not be underestimated, she said. Climate change is expected to put almost 50 million more people at risk of hunger by 2020.

"Biofuels are still seen as an important response to climate change, but risk increasing the competition for agricultural land -- and could contribute to food price increases," Rahman said. "At the same time, second generation biofuel crops such as sweet sorghum and jatropha curcas, which can grow on marginal lands, could become a new source of income for small farmers. International efforts must focus on minimising these risks and expanding the opportunities associate with biofuels."

Meanwhile, using fuel cell cars on a large scale around the globe is a long way off.

"At the end of this century, we will have different composition of energy sources, which would be solar, modern biomass, natural gas, oil, hydro, and some others according to projections by experts. We need to encourage renewable energy as the best solution for environment and sustainability. In this context, we should not eliminate even first generation biofuels because it will take much longer time to achieve technological breakthrough for second generation biofuels," Shiraiwa said.