HOW SUSTAINABLY GROWN BIOFUELS CAN HELP MEET THE

NEEDS OF SMALLHOLDERS

• Twelfth International Conference on • Twelfth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability

• 21-23 January, 2015

• Portland State University

• Portland Oregon, USA

PRESENTER

• Doris Cellarius, Member of CEESP, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, and Chair of CEESP’s Biofuels Task Force. CEESP’s Biofuels Task Force.

• Chair, Environmental Chamber of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials

• Member, Sierra Club Sustainable Biofuels Task Force

Biofuel’s Bad Reputation

• Corporate biofuels projects, especially plantations, have harmed wildlife and the environment and ruined the livelihoods of people who have been conned into accepting them or whose lands have been people who have been conned into accepting them or whose lands have been taken away. This is a modern tragedy. Many projects certified by sustainability systems have not proved worthy of the term.

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Palm Oil Project in Indonesia

How Biofuels Affect Food Supply

• The “food-versus-fuel” debate began when government mandates to address climate change promoted the use of biofuels over fossil fuels. This increased the demand for food crops as feedstock and caused food food crops as feedstock and caused food prices to increase. Poor households in the least-developed countries were hardest hit. Lands where people grew the foods they depended on are often converted to biofuelplantations.

Philippine Palm Plantations Replaced Essential Food Crops

Communities Lose Food Sources

• Areas where native palms grow contain many other plants that benefit local communities. Research on the Philippine Palawan found that useful plant species disappeared due to oil palm useful plant species disappeared due to oil palm plantation expansion. In one particular area local indigenous informants claim that, because of oil palm development, at least 145 species have completely disappeared from the areas where they were traditionally gathered.

Could Sustainably Certified BiofuelsBenefit Local Communities?

• Special support for small farmers, often referred to as smallholders, is needed because local and sustainably produced biofuels have the potential to both mitigate climate change and improve livelihoods in their communities.communities.

• Sustainability certification could help smallholders benefit from biofuel projects but many constraints make it difficult for them to improve the marketability of their crops: low institutional capacity, inadequate financial and social incentives, limited access to technology, high certification costs and insufficient external support

RSB Smallholder Program

• Recognizing this need, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) created a Smallholder Program to help small farmers overcome barriers to success. It helps them scale-up and commercialize their operations, links them to markets and suitable their operations, links them to markets and suitable partners, and assists them in implementing sustainable practices. This has enabled farmers to successfully market certified sustainably produced biofuels, raise their standard of living, and feed their families.

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Certification Supports Smallholders

• RSB is recognized by NGOs as the "most comprehensive and ambitious" biomaterials sustainability certification program in the world. RSB provides a holistic approach world. RSB provides a holistic approach towards sustainability assurance, covering social, environmental and operational aspects.

RSB Certified Small Farmers in Sri Lanka

• Biomass Supplies (Pvt) Ltd, based in Sri Lanka, earned the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) certification for biomass produced from branches pruned from live fences of Gliricidia trees. The certification fences of Gliricidia trees. The certification covers Biomass Supplies' work with 30,000 small farmers who have planted 60 million new trees on their fences.

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Biomaterials from Gliricidia trees

• Gliricidia, a fast-growing, short-rotation tree found naturally in Sri Lanka. Principally grown for its leaves, which provide materials for fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides, the species saves farmers considerable money on their annual agrochemical expenditures. It also finds use in farmers considerable money on their annual agrochemical expenditures. It also finds use in plantations as a shade tree and soil improver, by functioning as a "live fencing", and for animal fodder. The coppicing of Gliricidia branches twice a year also provides smallholders additional income. The main root and trunk of the tree remains sequestering carbon

RSB Auditing Gliricidia Crops

Biofuels from Macaúba Fruit

• This RSB project involves harvesting macaúba palm fruit to make biofuel and biomaterials. About around 100 families that traditionally collect fruits from the Cerrado (Brazilian savannah) have organisedthemselves as a farmer cooperative, which operates the oil processing facility.the oil processing facility.

• RSB is looking forward to sharing the lessons learned from the pilot project in Montes Claros region with smallholders working in other regions in Brazil where the macaúba palm tree grows, and to demonstrate the social and environmental benefits for all actors involved in the value chain

Collecting RSB certified Macuba fruit

SunChem-Solaris Aviation Fuels

• Small farmers grow non-nicotine, non-GMO tobacco, used to produce a biofuel for airplanes as well as other products. This Solaris project, certified and audited by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, assures that food security and the environment are protected. It is Sustainable Biomaterials, assures that food security and the environment are protected. It is a mix of commercial and smallholder farms that has brought economic and rural development to South Africa’s Limpopo province. Farms are located near wild areas, which are respected and protected. This is a source of additional revenue through tourism in the region.

Farmers Grow and Harvest TobaccoTo Produce Aviation Fuel

GAIA International Movement

• GAIA, named for the Earth-Mother-Goddess, sponsors community benefit projects worldwide, including Portland, Oregon.

• Its Mozambique project involved 10 communities who planted Jatropha as “Fences for Fuels”. The farmers committed to produce a number of jatropha seedlings in committed to produce a number of jatropha seedlings in return for acquiring materials for a well and getting a rope pump installed to provide irrigation. The farmers used part of the irrigated land to improve their own food production. The jatropha seedlings were then distributed to farmers in the community for live fences to protect their fields against losses to animals. This is especially necessary with the irrigated gardens people use for production during the dry season

“Biofuels for Local Development”,

. In Guinea-Bissaua, where jatropha had been grown but never used for fuel, GAIA trained members of Farmers Clubs to cultivate jatropha and castor plants for producing oil for biofuel and soap. The project set for producing oil for biofuel and soap. The project set up jatropha and castor nurseries, irrigated with rope pumps. Model fields are used to determine how to prune and manage the plants to get the best yields of oil. The oil plants are planted so as not to compete with food products, mainly as fences around the fields.

Guinea-Bissau JatrophaHarvest

Other International Programs Support Smallholders

SHARP, the Smallholder Acceleration and REDD+ Programme is a multi-stakeholder partnership which works with the private sector to support sustainable smallholder development, while improving livelihoods, minimising deforestation and improving food security. minimising deforestation and improving food security.

• ICRISAT, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semiarid Tropics, links poor and marginal farmers of drylands of the developing countries with the global biofuel revolution while strengthening their food and income security.

ICRISAT Gives Improved Seeds to Thousands of Kenyan Farmers

Urban Gardens in Utah

• Urban gardens on used land in Salt Lake County are producing both food and biofuels. The biofuel, produced from safflowers, powers the county fleet. The community benefits because individuals community benefits because individuals can rent lots from the county for a minimal price to grow produce which can be sold at neighborhood fruit stands. Instead of county employees having to mow the weeds or spray herbicides, farmers are caring for and benefitting from the land.

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Pennsylvania Biofuel Projects

• Pittsburgh’s GTECH (Growth Through Energy and Community Health) program has created biofuelprojects in several cities. The Homewood Sunflower Project reduced blight and brightened a vacant lot. The sunflowers improve soil conditions by absorbing toxins and preventing erosion. They are planted in the spring and preventing erosion. They are planted in the spring and harvested in the fall with the assistance of community partners. The ReClaim team employs workforce development groups, youth groups, and neighborhood organizations to maintain the gardens throughout the growing season. After the sunflowers bloom, they host a harvest event to celebrate the end of the season.

Homewood Sunflower Project

Louisiana Sunflower Gardens

• In New Orleans Project Sprout Pittsburgh-based nonprofit GTECH and “Limitless Vistas” are transforming empty plots of land into sunflower gardens . Biofuels are produced sunflower gardens . Biofuels are produced from the seeds and the plants remove toxins from the soil. Young people receive training and the community benefits from green jobs.

The Sunflower Gardens Vision