Chinese biofuel ‘could endanger biodiversity’

Using China’’s forests and ‘idle land’ to produce biofuels could pose a threat to biodiversity, warned experts at an international meeting.

Spike Millington, chief technical advisor to the European Union-China Biodiversity Programme, raised the problem earlier this month (7 March) at the International Workshop on Biodiversity and Climate Change, held in Beijing, China.

In July 2007, China released its middle- and long-term plan for renewable energy. While shunning corn or soya-based biofuel production to avoid endangering food security, the plan encourages the development of non-grain biofuels, including cassava- and sorghum-based ethanol in northeast and south China, and jatropha-based biodiesel in southwest China’s Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

In line with the national plan, companies and government agencies including PetroChina, the State Forestry Administration and local governments in Sichuan and Yunnan have revealed ambitious plans to develop jatropha-based biodiesel projects.

But Millington said, “The region of southwest China targeted for biofuels coincides with the home of the last remaining intact natural forests in China.” He added that the degraded forests in the area also play an important role in biodiversity.

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