Biofuel to power Indonesia’s anti-poverty drive

Indonesia is embarking on an ambitious biofuel programme which has already attracted more than 17 billion dollars in foreign and domestic investment and criticism from conservationists worried about the country’s forests.

While Indonesia is rich in oil and gas supplies, demand in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is outpacing production and it is seeking alternative energy sources to secure its future.

The government has set a target that 17 percent of the country’s energy requirements must be met from renewable sources by 2025 and last year established a National Team for Biofuel Development to develop alternative energy supplies.
“Foreign investment is 12.4 billion US and the domestic investment is about five billion US — half of that is for the farmers through the Indonesian banks,” Hamdi told AFP in an interview.

Over the next eight years, some five million to six million hectares (12.5 million to 15 million acres) will be planted with biofuel crops, he said.

But just where all this land — an area far larger than Denmark and a bit smaller than Sri Lanka or the US state of West Virginia — is going to come from is what worries conservation groups concerned about deforestation.

And according to a surprising study by Netherlands-based Wetlands International and Delft Hydraulics, biofuel is often more polluting than fossil fuels.

France24