Criteria for a sustainable, socially and ecologically responsible bioenergy production
Following his week-long visit to Brazil, Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel spoke out in favour of greater support for the country in the protection of tropical forests. At the same time we must secure a "sustainable, socially and environmentally responsible bioenergy production. Bioenergy production per se is not good or bad. It has to meet specified ecological and social sustainability standards," said Gabriel.
In last week's talks with his Brazilian colleague Marina Silva, in the Foreign Ministry and with Brazilian NGOs, Gabriel discussed some of the toughest negotiating points on the agenda of the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 9). The meeting is due to start in two weeks' time in Bonn, under the Presidency of Minister Gabriel.
Together with other developing countries, Brazil is calling for an internationally binding regime against biopiracy. The aim is to protect the developing world more effectively against companies using the genetic information and traditional knowledge of these countries to develop products, without ensuring that the countries concerned receive a fair share of the profits.
In the talks Gabriel pledged to actively support such a regime. The Brazilian side signalled its willingness to compromise and to approach countries which have previously rejected the proposed regulation. "I believe that we must secure a fair balance between developing and industrialised countries, while ensuring that such regulations do not entail complicated bureaucracy which would hinder the development of biologically based technological innovations," said Gabriel.
The two sides also achieved progress on the question of how global nature conservation efforts can be intensified. "Brazil is doing a great deal to preserve the rainforest," said Gabriel, pointing out that through the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA) alone, the government in Brasilia intends to create more rainforest protected areas totalling 50 million hectares (1,700 times larger than Germany's largest national park, the Bavarian Forest). Further protected areas are planned.
Gabriel announced that at COP 9 he would propose a "LifeWeb Initiative". This would enable Germany to intensify its efforts for the creation of protected areas for sensitive ecosystems. "I would like the willingness of developing countries to designate these additional protected areas to be supported with additional funding from industrialised countries. Up to now, Brazil has held back on this issue, but at our talks the Brazilian side signalled that they will now support this approach."
On the topic of bioenergy generation, Gabriel called for greater honesty and objectivity in the debate. "In my opinion, biomass which has been produced at the cost of the destruction of forests or other natural ecosystems cannot be used for our bioenergy. However, it is disingenuous to equate palm oil production on slash-and-burn rainforest land with cane sugar cultivation on existing agricultural areas or degraded land. Such comparisons serve only to obstruct the road towards jointly developed, acceptable solutions."
"We must always consider the precise conditions of the production site, as well as the larger framework of the shift in use. I find it most remarkable that while here in Germany everything is tarred with the same brush and branded irresponsible, in the course of our intensive exchanges of opinion in Santarem, Brazil, even environmental associations told me that in their view sugar cane cultivation in Brazil does not yet pose a threat to the rainforest. I certainly will not ignore the qualifying "yet" in that statement. It means we must act now, in order to ensure that this continues to be the case in future!"
At our talks, we agreed with the Brazilian party to form a working group under the bilateral energy partnership to lay down the sustainability requirements for bioenergy production. Furthermore, the issue of bioenergy should be addressed multilaterally at the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. "I hope that COP 9 in Bonn will adopt a roadmap for developing guidelines to prevent the destruction of ecosystems due to increased biomass production.