Assessing deforestation from biofuels: Methodological challenges

Applied Geography

Volumn 31, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 508-518

  Gao, Yan ^a   Skutsch, Margaret ^b   Drigo, Rudi ^c   Pacheco, Pablo ^d   Masera, Omar ^a  

^a INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN ECOSISTEMAS Y SUSTENTABILIDAD   (Mexico)

^b INSTITUTO DE MATEMÁTICAS   (Mexico)

^c Department of Forest Monitoring and Wood Energy Planning FAO Consultant   (Italy)

^d CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY RESEARCH   (Indonesia)

Author keywords

Biofuels; Deforestation; Feedstocks; Indirect land use change

Indexed keywords

ASSESSMENT METHOD; BIOFUEL; DEFORESTATION; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT; ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT; LAND USE CHANGE; SPATIAL ANALYSIS;

EID: 78649784300     PISSN: 01436228     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2010.10.007     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. Achard F., FeFries R., Eva H., Mansen M., Mayaux P., Stibig H.J. Pan-tropical monitoring of deforestation. Environment Research Letter 2007, 2:1-11.
2. Angelsen A., Kaimowitz D. Rethinking the causes of deforestation: lessons from economic models. The World Bank Research Observer 1999, 14:73-98.
3. APROSOJA, http://www.aprosoja.com.br/novosite/estatisticav.php?cate = 1 Accessed January, 2010.
4. Branford S., Freris N. One great big hill of beans. The Ecologist 2000, 30:46-47.
5. Bringezu S., Schutz H., O'Brien M., Kauppi L., Howarth R.W., McNeely J. Towards sustainable production and use of resources: assessing biofuels 2009, United Nations Environment programme.
6. Brinkmann Consultancy Greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil production, Literature review and proposals from the RSPO Working Group on Greenhouse Gases 2009, Final Report, available from:. http://www.rspo.org/files/project/GreenHouse.Gas.Working.Group/Report-GHG-October2009.pdf.
7. Brown J.C., Koeppe M., Coles B., Price K.P. Soybean production and conversion of tropical forest in the Brazilian Amazon: the case of Vilhena, Rondonia. RoyalSwedish Academy of Sciences 2005, 34(6):462-469.
8. Butler R.A.). U.S. biofuels policy drives deforestation in Indonesia, the Amazon 2008, Accessed December, 2009. http://www.Mongabay.com.
9. Carroll M.L., DiMiceli C.M., Townshend J.R.G., Sohlberg R.A., DeFries M.C. Vegetation cover conversion MOD44A, Burned vegetation, Collection 4 2006, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
10. Cotula L., Dyer N., Vermeulen S. Fuelling exclusion? The biofuels boom and poor people's access to land 2008, IIED, London.
11. Croezen H.J., Bergsma G.C., Otten M.B.J., van Valkengoed M.P.J. Biofuels: Indirect land use change and climate impact 2010, CE Delft, Delft, June 2010.
12. Delucchi M. A lifecycle emissions model (LEM): Lifecycle emissions from transportation fuels, motor vehicles, transportation modes, electricity use, heating and cooking fuels and materials 2003, Institute of Transportation Studies UCD-ITS-RR-03-17, University of California, Davis.
13. Demirbas A. Political, economic and environmental impacts of biofuels: a review. Applied Energy 2009, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.04.036.
14. Dossche V., Ozinga S. When the solution is the problem: The EU and its policies on agrofuels 2008, Bioenergy and forests briefing note 1, FERN.
15. Drigo R., Lasserre B., Marchetti M. Patterns and trends in tropical forest cover. Plant Biosystems 2009, 1-17.
16. Dumortier J., Hayes D.J., Carriquiry M., Dong F., Du X., Elobeid A., et al. Sensitivity of carbon emission estimates from indirect land use change 2009, Working paper 09-WP493, Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
17. Fabiosa J.F., Beghin J.C., Dong F., Elobeid A., Tokgoz S., Yu T.H. Land allocation effects of the global ethanol surge: Predictions from the international FAPRI model 2009, Working Paper 09-WP 488, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
18. FAO. Forest resources assessment 1990. Survey of tropical forest cover and study of change processes 1996, FAO, Written by R. Drigo. FAO Forestry Paper 130. ISBN 92-6-103808-2. http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/007/w0015e/W0015E05.htm.
19. FAO Choosing forest definition for the clean development mechanism 2006, FAO, Rome, Forest and climate change working paper 4.
20. Fearnside P.M. Fernside, Soybean cultivation as a threat to the environment. Environment Conservation 2001, 28:23-38.
21. FEDEPALMA Anuario estadístico estadísticas de la palma de aceite en Colombia 2009, Colombia, Federación Nacional de Cultivadores de Palma de Aceite, Bogota.
22. Frondel M., Peters J. Biodiesel: a new oildorado? 2005, discussion Papers No. 36., Rheinisch-Westfalisches Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI).
23. Geist H.J., Lambin E.F. Proximate causes and underlying driving forces of tropical deforestation. Bioscience 2002, 52:143-150.
24. GEXSI Global market study on jatropha, project inventory: Africa 2008, Prepared for the world Wide Fund for nature (WWF) London/Berlin.
25. GEXSI Global market study on jatropha, project inventory: Latin America 2008, Prepared for the world Wide Fund for nature (WWF) London/Berlin.
26. GEXSI Global market study on jatropha, project inventory: Asia 2008, Prepared for the world Wide Fund for nature (WWF) London/Berlin.
27. Gibbs H., Johnston M., Foley A.A., Holloway T., Monfreda C., Ramankutty N., Zaks D. Carbon payback times for crop-based biofuel expansion in the tropics: the effects of changing yield and technology. Environmental Research Letter 2008, 3:1-10.
28. Goldemberg J. Ethanol for a sustainable energy future. Sustainability and energy. Science 2007, 315.
29. Goldemberg J. The challenge of biofuels 2008, Available from, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Accessed on 19 04 2010. http://english.unica.com.br/.
30. Goldemberg J., Guardabassi P. Are biofuels a feasible option?. Energy Policy 2009, 37:10-14.
31. Hansen M.C., Townshend J.R.G., Defries R.S., Carroll M. Estimation of tree cover using MODIS data at global, continental and regional/local scales. International Journal of Remote Sensing 2005, 26:4359-4380.
32. Havlík P., et al. Global land-use implications of first and second generation biofuel targets. Energy Policy 2010, 10.1016/j.enpol.2010.03.030.
33. Hertel T.W. Implications of US biofuels production for global land use 2008, (Presentation to the California Air Resources Board).
34. ICTSD Biofuel production, trade and sustainable development 2008, Policy Discssion Paper ICTSD Programme on Agricultural Trade and Sustainable Development, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switzerland.
35. Jepma C.J. Tropical deforestation, a social-economic approach 1995, Earthscan, London.
36. Kammen D.K., Farrel A.E., Plevin R.J., Jones A.D., Nemet G.F., Delucchi M.A. Energy and greenhouse impacts of biofuels: A framework for analysis 2007, Joint Transportation Research Center-Discussion Paper No. 2007-2. OECD/International Transport Forum. December, 2007.
37. Kim H., Kim S., Dale B.E. Biofuels, land use change and greenhouse gas emissions: some unexplored variables. Environmental Science and Technology 2009, 43:961-967.
38. Lamers P. Emerging liquid biofuel markets-A donde va la Argentina? 2006, Environmental Management and policy, IIIEE, Lund University, Sweden, Thesis for Master degree.
39. Lapola D., Schaldach R., Alcamo J., Bondeau A., Koch J., Koelking C., et al. Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil 2010, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0907318107.
40. Liska A., Perrin R.K. Indirect land use emissions in the life cycle of biofuels: regulations vs science. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining 2009, 10.1002/bbb.153.
41. Loos T.G. Socio-economic impact of a jatropha project on smallholder farmers in Mpanda, Tanzania 2009, Thesis for Master degree, University of Hohenheim, Hohenheim.
42. Lywood W., Pinkney J., Cockerill S. Impact of protein concentrate coproducts on net land requirement for European biofuel production. GCP Bioenergy 2009, 1:346-359. 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2009.01026.x.
43. Lywood W., Pinkney J., Cockerill S. The relative contributions of changes in yield and land area to increasing crop output. GCB Bioenergy 2009, 1:360-369. 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2009.01028.x.
44. Mathews J.A., Tan H. Biofuels and indirect land use change effects: the debate continues. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining 2009, Wiley InterScience. 10.1002/bbb.147.
45. Meloni A., Rudorff B.F.T., Antoniazzi L.B., Alves de Aguiar D., Piedade M.R., Adami M. Prospects of the sugarcane expansion in Brazil: impacts on direct and indirect land use change. Sugarcane Ethanol 2008, 63-93. Wageningen Academic Publishers, The Netherlands. P. Zuurbier, J. van de Vooren (Eds.).
46. Nepstad D., Stickler C.M., Filho B.S., Merry F. Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B:Biological Science 2008, 363(1498):1737-1746.
47. Potter L., Manon Osseweijer The oil palm question in Borneo. Reflections on the Heart of Borneo 2008, Tropenbos International, Wageningen, the Netherlands. G. Persoon (Ed.).
48. Ravindranath N.H., Sathaye J., Woods J., Fargione J., Watson H., Faaji A., et al. GHG implications of land use and land coversion to biofuel crops. Biofuels: Environmental Consequences and interactions with changing land use. Report of the international SCOPE biofuels project 2009, http://cip.cornell.edu/biofuels/, R.W. Howarth, S. Bringezu (Eds.).
49. Renewable Fuels Agency The Gallagher review of the indirect effects of biofuels production 2008, Available from:, Accessed on 01 10 2010. http://www.renewablefuelsagency.gov.uk/reportsandpublications/reviewoftheindirecteffectsofbiofuels.
50. Ribeiro D., Matavel N. Jatropha! A socio - economic pitfall for Mozambique 2009, Justica Ambiental & Uniao Nacional de Camponesese, Mozambique.
51. Rudel T.K., Coomes O.T., Moran E., Achard F., Angelsen A., Cu J., et al. Forest transitions: toward a global understanding of land use change. Global Environmental Change Part A 2005, 15(1):23-31.
52. Sawaya M., Nappo M. Etanol de cana-de-acucar: uma solucao energetic global sob ataque. Biocombustiveis: A energia da contraversia 2009, a soluçao energética, Sao Paulo, Brasil. R. Abramovay (Ed.).
53. Schneider U.A., McCarl B.A. Economic potential of biomass based fuels for greenhouse gas emission mitigation. Environmental and Resource Economics 2003, 24:291-312.
54. Schoneveld, G.C., German, L. & E. Nutakor. Towards sustainable biofuel development in Ghana: Assessing the effectiveness of the Ghanaian legal and institutional framework, Bogor: CIFOR, in press.
55. Schubert R., Schellnhuber H.J., Buchmann N., Epiney A., Griebhammer R., Kulessa M., et al. Future bioenergy and sustainable land use 2008, Earthscan, London.
56. Searchinger T., Heimlich R., Houghton R.A., Dong F., Elobeid A., Fabio Tokgoz S., et al. Use of US croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land use change. Science 2008, 319:1238-1240.
57. Stokstad E. U.N. report suggests slowed forest losses. Science 2001, 291:2294.
58. Sulle E., Nelson F. Biofuels, land access, and Rural Livelihoods in Tanzania 2009, IIED, London.
59. Toasa J. Colombia: A new ethanol producer on the rise? WRS - 0901 2009, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C, 15 pp. Available from:. http://www.ers.usda.gov.
60. Wahid D.D.M.B. Overview of the Malaysian oil palm industry 2009 2010, Malaysia Palm Oil Board.
61. World Growth Palm oil - the sustainable oil 2009, Available at, Palm Oil Green Development Campaign. http://www.worldgrowth.org.
62. Zahabu E. Sinks and sources: A strategy to involve forest communities in Tanzania in global climate policy 2008, PhD thesis, University of Twente, NL.
63. Zhan X., Sohlberg R.A., Townshend J.R.G., DiMiceli C., Carroll M.L., Eastman J.C., et al. Detection of land cover changes using MODIS 250m data. Remote Sensing of Environment 2002, 83:336-350.