03/12/2008 (Mongabay.com) - Producing biofuels from oil palm plantations established on degraded grasslands rather than tropical rainforests and peat lands would result in a net removal of carbon from the atmosphere rather than greenhouse gas emissions, report researchers writing in Conservation Biology. The results confirm that benefits to climate from biofuel production depend greatly on the type of land used for feedstocks.

"Our analysis found that it would take 75 to 93 years to see any benefits to the climate from biofuel plantations on converted tropical forestlands," said lead author Finn Danielsen of Denmark's Nordic Agency for Development and Ecology (NORDECO). "Until then, we will be releasing carbon into the atmosphere by cutting tropical rain forests, in addition to losing valuable plant and animal species. It's even worse on peatlands, which contain so much carbon that it would be 600 years before we see any benefits whatsoever."

The authors — which include botanists, ecologists and engineers from seven countries — found that biofuels produced from oil palm cultivated on degraded Imperata grasslands would lead to a net removal of carbon in 10 years. Imperata is a grass that takes hold after forests are burned and cleared. It prevents natural regeneration of forest and once established, generally results in the abandonment of land. At least 8.5 million hectares of land in Indonesia are classified as Imperata grassland, according to a 1997 study published in Agroforestry Systems. Another 5 million hectares are degraded grasslands.

While these lands offer great potential to expand palm oil production without encroaching on carbon-rich and biodiverse ecosystems like tropical rainforests and peat swamps, developers have traditionally been hesitant to develop Imperata grasslands due to the lack of a "logging subsidy" generated by selling the timber harvested from forest land prior to planting with oil palm. Thus forests across Malaysia and Indonesia continue to be cleared for oil palm plantations. While a recent collapse of palm oil prices may offer a temporary reprieve from the relentless expansion the region has experienced over the past generation, many observers expect palm oil demand to continue to grow for use in food, industrial applications, and biodiesel production, putting remaining forests at risk.

Biodiesel yield graph

The authors note that the continuing destruction of forests and peatlands for oil palm will devastate Southeast Asia's biodiversity and result in massive greenhouse gas emissions, undermining a major incentive for biofuel production — emissions-savings relative to conventional fossil fuels.

"Biofuels are a bad deal for forests, wildlife and the climate if they replace tropical rain forests," said co-author Dr. Neil Burgess of World Wildlife Fund. "In fact, they hasten climate change by removing one of the world's most efficient carbon storage tools – intact tropical rain forests."

It's a huge contradiction to clear tropical rain forests to grow crops for so-called 'environmentally friendly' fuels," said co-author Faizal Parish of the Global Environment Center, Malaysia. "This is not only an issue in South East Asia – in Latin America forests are being cleared for soy production which is even less efficient at biofuel production compared to oil palm. Reducing deforestation is a much more effective way for countries to reduce climate change while also meeting their obligations to protect biodiversity."

To discourage continued conversion of ecologically-important and carbon-dense ecosystems for oilseed production, the authors call for the establishment of global sustainability standards for biofuels, a measure which is already under consideration by the E.U. Such criteria — potentially applied to production or imports — could lead to the conservation of forests and peat lands for their carbon they store, the biodiversity they house, and the ecosystem services they provide, while promoting oil palm expansion on otherwise abandoned grasslands. Countries like Indonesia could see a windfall from both increased palm oil production and compensation from emerging markets for forest carbon and ecosystem services.