Another Water Warning
The International Water Management Institute has just issued a report on ambitious plans in China and India to grow crops to turn into biofuels. After studying the issue in depth they come to a fairly grim conclusion. The biofuel crops will deplete both countries water supplies and severely restrict their ability to grow food for human consumption.
China and India, expected to account for nearly 70 percent of global oil demand between now and 2030, are using cheaper biofuels derived from crops to help power their economies, the International Water Management Institute said.
"But to grow biofuel crops you need to use more water and land," Charlotte de Fraiture, a scientist at the institute and lead author of the biofuels study, told AFP.
India and China, which both have over one billion people, "suffer from water shortages which will only get worse as their food demand keeps pace with a growing population, their rising income and their diversifying diets."
The two Asian giants "are already struggling to find enough water to grow the food they need," the study by the Sri Lanka-based institute noted.
As global crude oil prices race past 80 dollars a barrel, countries are increasingly relying on biofuels, which produce energy by using organic waste, wood, dung and residues from crops like sugarcane and grains, the study said.
China plans to use maize while India wants to use sugarcane for biofuel production. Both crops rely heavily on irrigation, de Fraiture said.
China aims to increase biofuel production four-fold from a 2002 level of 3.6 billion litres of bioethanol to around 15 billion litres by 2020, or nine percent of the countryÂÂ’s projected gasoline demand.
India is pursuing a similarly aggressive strategy.
To meet their biofuel targets, the study said, India needs to produce 16 percent more sugarcane and China 26 percent extra maize.
"Crop production for biofuels in China and India would likely jeopardize sustainable water use and thus affect irrigated production of food crops, including cereals and vegetables, which would then need to be imported in larger quantities," de Fraiture noted.
Both countries are already struggling with water issues. Adding more biofuel production to the mix is going to make things worse. TANSTAAFL.
Energy, Environment | Gaius Thursday, 11 October , 2007
By Micah Tillman, Thursday, 11 October , 2007 @ 9:41 am
So the only solution is to find a way to create biofuels out of what is currently just going to waste (I’m thinking of the stuff that restaurants are always throwing out)?
Or to say, “forget you biofuels, we’re coming up with another power source,” perhaps?
By feeblemind, Friday, 12 October , 2007 @ 9:24 am
This illustrates how far India and China have come in being able to feed their populations. If the masses were going hungry this wouldn’t even be considered.