Another Inconvenient Truth: How biofuel policies are deepening poverty and accelerating climate change

Another Inconvenient Truth: How biofuel policies are deepening poverty and accelerating climate change

Author: Robert Bailey

Publisher: Oxfam

Published:

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13: 1848142188

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Book Synopsis Another Inconvenient Truth: How biofuel policies are deepening poverty and accelerating climate change by : Robert Bailey

Download or read book Another Inconvenient Truth: How biofuel policies are deepening poverty and accelerating climate change written by Robert Bailey and published by Oxfam. This book was released on with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Biofuel finance: global trends in biofuel finance in forest-rich countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and implications for governance

Biofuel finance: global trends in biofuel finance in forest-rich countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and implications for governance

Author: Jan Willem van Gelder

Publisher: CIFOR

Published: 2011-02-08

Total Pages: 12

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Biofuel finance: global trends in biofuel finance in forest-rich countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and implications for governance by : Jan Willem van Gelder

Download or read book Biofuel finance: global trends in biofuel finance in forest-rich countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and implications for governance written by Jan Willem van Gelder and published by CIFOR. This book was released on 2011-02-08 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Redeeming REDD

Redeeming REDD

Author: Michael I. Brown

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-26

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1136340610

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It is now well accepted that deforestation is a key source of greenhouse gas emissions and of climate change, with forests representing major sinks for carbon. As a result, public and private initiatives for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) have been widely endorsed by policy-makers. A key issue is the feasibility of carbon trading or other incentives to encourage land-owners and indigenous people, particularly in developing tropical countries, to conserve forests, rather than to cut them down for agricultural or other development purposes. This book presents a major critique of the aims and policies of REDD as currently structured, particularly in terms of their social feasibility. It is shown how the claims to be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as enhance people's livelihoods and biodiversity conservation are unrealistic. There is a naive assumption that technical or economic fixes are sufficient for success. However, the social and governance aspects of REDD, and its enhanced version known as REDD+, are shown to be implausible. Instead to enhance REDD's prospects, the author provides a roadmap for developing a new social contract that puts people first.


Book Synopsis Redeeming REDD by : Michael I. Brown

Download or read book Redeeming REDD written by Michael I. Brown and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-26 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is now well accepted that deforestation is a key source of greenhouse gas emissions and of climate change, with forests representing major sinks for carbon. As a result, public and private initiatives for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) have been widely endorsed by policy-makers. A key issue is the feasibility of carbon trading or other incentives to encourage land-owners and indigenous people, particularly in developing tropical countries, to conserve forests, rather than to cut them down for agricultural or other development purposes. This book presents a major critique of the aims and policies of REDD as currently structured, particularly in terms of their social feasibility. It is shown how the claims to be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as enhance people's livelihoods and biodiversity conservation are unrealistic. There is a naive assumption that technical or economic fixes are sufficient for success. However, the social and governance aspects of REDD, and its enhanced version known as REDD+, are shown to be implausible. Instead to enhance REDD's prospects, the author provides a roadmap for developing a new social contract that puts people first.


The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change

The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change

Author: Saturnino M. Borras Jr.

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 499

ISBN-13: 1317985400

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This book addresses key questions on biofuels within agrarian political economy, political sociology and political ecology. Contributions are based on fresh empirical materials from different parts of the world. The book starts with four key questions in agrarian political economy: Who owns what? Who does what? Who gets what? And what do they do with the surplus wealth? It also addresses the emergent social and political relations in the biofuel complex and, given the impacts on natural resources and sustainability, engages with questions about people-environment interactions. At the same time, the book is concerned with the politics of representation, that is, what are the discursive frames through which biofuels are promoted and/or opposed? The book analyses the institutional structures, and cultures of energy consumption on which a biofuels complex depends, and the alternative political and ecological visions emerging that call the biofuels complex into question. Across sixteen chapters presenting material from five regions across the North-South divide and focusing on fourteen countries including Brazil, Indonesia, India, USA and Germany, these topics are addressed within the following themes: global (re)configurations; agro-ecological visions; conflicts, resistances and diverse outcomes; state, capital and society relations; mobilising opposition, creating alternatives; and change and continuity. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.


Book Synopsis The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change by : Saturnino M. Borras Jr.

Download or read book The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change written by Saturnino M. Borras Jr. and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses key questions on biofuels within agrarian political economy, political sociology and political ecology. Contributions are based on fresh empirical materials from different parts of the world. The book starts with four key questions in agrarian political economy: Who owns what? Who does what? Who gets what? And what do they do with the surplus wealth? It also addresses the emergent social and political relations in the biofuel complex and, given the impacts on natural resources and sustainability, engages with questions about people-environment interactions. At the same time, the book is concerned with the politics of representation, that is, what are the discursive frames through which biofuels are promoted and/or opposed? The book analyses the institutional structures, and cultures of energy consumption on which a biofuels complex depends, and the alternative political and ecological visions emerging that call the biofuels complex into question. Across sixteen chapters presenting material from five regions across the North-South divide and focusing on fourteen countries including Brazil, Indonesia, India, USA and Germany, these topics are addressed within the following themes: global (re)configurations; agro-ecological visions; conflicts, resistances and diverse outcomes; state, capital and society relations; mobilising opposition, creating alternatives; and change and continuity. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.


Climate Change and Food Security

Climate Change and Food Security

Author: Elizabeth Thomas Hope

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-12-08

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1315469723

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Global climatic change has resulted in new and unpredictable patterns of precipitation and temperature, the increased frequency of extreme weather events and rising sea levels. These changes impact all four aspects of food security – availability, accessibility, stability of supply and appropriate nourishment – as well as the entire food system – food production, marketing, processing, distribution and prices. Climate Change and Food Security focuses on the challenge to food security posed by a changing climate. The book brings together many of the critical global concerns of climate change and food security through local cases based on empirical studies undertaken in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Focusing on risk reduction and the complex nature of vulnerability to climate change, the book includes chapters on the responsiveness of farmers based on traditional knowledge, as well as the critical phenomenon of food insecurity in the urban setting. Other chapters are devoted to efforts made to strengthen resilience through long-term development, with interventions at the regional and national levels of scale. It also examines cross-cutting themes that underlie the strategies employed to achieve food security, including equity, gender, livelihoods and governance. This edited volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, food security, environmental management and sustainable development.


Book Synopsis Climate Change and Food Security by : Elizabeth Thomas Hope

Download or read book Climate Change and Food Security written by Elizabeth Thomas Hope and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global climatic change has resulted in new and unpredictable patterns of precipitation and temperature, the increased frequency of extreme weather events and rising sea levels. These changes impact all four aspects of food security – availability, accessibility, stability of supply and appropriate nourishment – as well as the entire food system – food production, marketing, processing, distribution and prices. Climate Change and Food Security focuses on the challenge to food security posed by a changing climate. The book brings together many of the critical global concerns of climate change and food security through local cases based on empirical studies undertaken in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Focusing on risk reduction and the complex nature of vulnerability to climate change, the book includes chapters on the responsiveness of farmers based on traditional knowledge, as well as the critical phenomenon of food insecurity in the urban setting. Other chapters are devoted to efforts made to strengthen resilience through long-term development, with interventions at the regional and national levels of scale. It also examines cross-cutting themes that underlie the strategies employed to achieve food security, including equity, gender, livelihoods and governance. This edited volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, food security, environmental management and sustainable development.


Plant Bioproducts

Plant Bioproducts

Author: Guanqun Chen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-07-18

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1493986163

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Among the major challenges facing society today, seeking renewable alternatives to petroleum-based fuels and manufactured goods is critically important to reducing society’s dependency on petroleum and tackling environmental issues associated with petroleum use. In recent years there has been considerable research targeted toward the development of plant-derived bioproducts to replace petrochemical feedstocks for both fuel and manufacturing. Plants not only provide a large amount of renewable biomass, but their biochemical diversity also offers many chemical and molecular tools for the production of new products through biotechnology. Plant Bioproducts is an introduction to the production and application of plant bioproducts, including biofuels, bioplastics, and biochemicals for the manufacturing sector. Contributing authors examine various bioproducts with respect to their basic chemistry, relationship to current petrochemical-based products, and strategies for their production in plants. Chapters cover the integrated roles of agronomy, plant breeding, biotechnology, and biorefining in the context of bioproduct development. Environmental, economic, ethical, and social issues surrounding bioproducts, including the use of genetically modified crops, challenges to food security, and consumer acceptance, are also covered.


Book Synopsis Plant Bioproducts by : Guanqun Chen

Download or read book Plant Bioproducts written by Guanqun Chen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-18 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the major challenges facing society today, seeking renewable alternatives to petroleum-based fuels and manufactured goods is critically important to reducing society’s dependency on petroleum and tackling environmental issues associated with petroleum use. In recent years there has been considerable research targeted toward the development of plant-derived bioproducts to replace petrochemical feedstocks for both fuel and manufacturing. Plants not only provide a large amount of renewable biomass, but their biochemical diversity also offers many chemical and molecular tools for the production of new products through biotechnology. Plant Bioproducts is an introduction to the production and application of plant bioproducts, including biofuels, bioplastics, and biochemicals for the manufacturing sector. Contributing authors examine various bioproducts with respect to their basic chemistry, relationship to current petrochemical-based products, and strategies for their production in plants. Chapters cover the integrated roles of agronomy, plant breeding, biotechnology, and biorefining in the context of bioproduct development. Environmental, economic, ethical, and social issues surrounding bioproducts, including the use of genetically modified crops, challenges to food security, and consumer acceptance, are also covered.


Biofuels and the Globalization of Risk

Biofuels and the Globalization of Risk

Author: James Smith

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2010-11-11

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1848135734

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Biofuels and the Globalization of Risk offers a fresh, compelling analysis of the politics and policies behind the biofuels story, with its technological optimism and often-idealized promises for the future. This essential new critique argues that investment in biofuels may reconfigure risk and responsibility, whereby the global South is encouraged to invest its future in growing biofuel crops, often at the expense of food, in order that the global North may continue its unsustainable energy consumption unabated and guilt-free. Thus, Smith argues, biofuels may constitute the biggest change in North-South relationships since colonialism.


Book Synopsis Biofuels and the Globalization of Risk by : James Smith

Download or read book Biofuels and the Globalization of Risk written by James Smith and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11-11 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biofuels and the Globalization of Risk offers a fresh, compelling analysis of the politics and policies behind the biofuels story, with its technological optimism and often-idealized promises for the future. This essential new critique argues that investment in biofuels may reconfigure risk and responsibility, whereby the global South is encouraged to invest its future in growing biofuel crops, often at the expense of food, in order that the global North may continue its unsustainable energy consumption unabated and guilt-free. Thus, Smith argues, biofuels may constitute the biggest change in North-South relationships since colonialism.


The Handbook of Global Energy Policy

The Handbook of Global Energy Policy

Author: Andreas Goldthau

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2016-11-14

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13: 1119250692

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This is the first handbook to provide a global policy perspective on energy, bringing together a diverse range of international energy issues in one volume. Maps the emerging field of global energy policy both for scholars and practitioners; the focus is on global issues, but it also explores the regional impact of international energy policies Accounts for the multi-faceted nature of global energy policy challenges and broadens discussions of these beyond the prevalent debates about oil supply Analyzes global energy policy challenges across the dimensions of markets, development, sustainability, and security, and identifies key global policy challenges for the future Comprises newly-commissioned research by an international team of scholars and energy policy practitioners


Book Synopsis The Handbook of Global Energy Policy by : Andreas Goldthau

Download or read book The Handbook of Global Energy Policy written by Andreas Goldthau and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-11-14 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first handbook to provide a global policy perspective on energy, bringing together a diverse range of international energy issues in one volume. Maps the emerging field of global energy policy both for scholars and practitioners; the focus is on global issues, but it also explores the regional impact of international energy policies Accounts for the multi-faceted nature of global energy policy challenges and broadens discussions of these beyond the prevalent debates about oil supply Analyzes global energy policy challenges across the dimensions of markets, development, sustainability, and security, and identifies key global policy challenges for the future Comprises newly-commissioned research by an international team of scholars and energy policy practitioners


Assessing opportunities and constraints for biofuel development in sub-Saharan Africa

Assessing opportunities and constraints for biofuel development in sub-Saharan Africa

Author: Graham von Maltitz

Publisher: CIFOR

Published: 2011-08-24

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13:

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Sustainable biofuel production should provide opportunities for sub-Saharan African countries and their inhabitants, especially in impoverished rural areas. Biofuel feedstock production has the potential to bring job opportunities and earnings, but this should not be at the cost of existing livelihoods and the local environment. Biofuels also have the potential to increase energy security in these countries for both transportation and household needs. Sub-Saharan African biofuel feedstock production projects can be classified into 4 distinct models based on production scales (small- versus large-scale farm/plantations) and on the intended use of the biofuel (local versus national). The first type embraces large corporate plantations to supply the market for liquid transport fuel blends. The second type comprises small-scale producers linked to the corporate producers. The third type involves small-scale producers supplying the local energy needs of farmers and villages. The fourth and rarest type is linked to the large corporate plantations, to meet the corporation’s own energy needs. The introduction of foreign-owned, large-scale corporate plantations producing biofuel for transport fuel blends causes the most concern in sub-Saharan Africa, as their scale and ownership arrangements may disrupt rural livelihoods and affect access rights to land resources. However, these projects can also bring job opportunities, thereby providing alternative sources of income for poor communities. This working paper assesses mechanisms for limiting the negative impacts while maximising national benefit capture. Market-based mechanisms versus legal and policy mechanisms to enhance long-term sustainability are also discussed.


Book Synopsis Assessing opportunities and constraints for biofuel development in sub-Saharan Africa by : Graham von Maltitz

Download or read book Assessing opportunities and constraints for biofuel development in sub-Saharan Africa written by Graham von Maltitz and published by CIFOR. This book was released on 2011-08-24 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable biofuel production should provide opportunities for sub-Saharan African countries and their inhabitants, especially in impoverished rural areas. Biofuel feedstock production has the potential to bring job opportunities and earnings, but this should not be at the cost of existing livelihoods and the local environment. Biofuels also have the potential to increase energy security in these countries for both transportation and household needs. Sub-Saharan African biofuel feedstock production projects can be classified into 4 distinct models based on production scales (small- versus large-scale farm/plantations) and on the intended use of the biofuel (local versus national). The first type embraces large corporate plantations to supply the market for liquid transport fuel blends. The second type comprises small-scale producers linked to the corporate producers. The third type involves small-scale producers supplying the local energy needs of farmers and villages. The fourth and rarest type is linked to the large corporate plantations, to meet the corporation’s own energy needs. The introduction of foreign-owned, large-scale corporate plantations producing biofuel for transport fuel blends causes the most concern in sub-Saharan Africa, as their scale and ownership arrangements may disrupt rural livelihoods and affect access rights to land resources. However, these projects can also bring job opportunities, thereby providing alternative sources of income for poor communities. This working paper assesses mechanisms for limiting the negative impacts while maximising national benefit capture. Market-based mechanisms versus legal and policy mechanisms to enhance long-term sustainability are also discussed.


A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can we live within the doughnut?

A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can we live within the doughnut?

Author: Kate Raworth

Publisher: Oxfam

Published:

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13: 1780770596

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Book Synopsis A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can we live within the doughnut? by : Kate Raworth

Download or read book A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can we live within the doughnut? written by Kate Raworth and published by Oxfam. This book was released on with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: