Lula in Davos: wealthy countries should invest in biofuels in poor countries

Milton Maciel, a former government official who served as Secretary of Agriculture in Brazil’s northeastern state of Alagoas, one of Brazil’s main ethanol-producing regions, has recently launched Biofuels Now, an excellent resource on the Brazilian ethanol experience. Together with Henrique Oliveira's Ethablog and Marcelo Acuña Coelho's EthanolBrasil, we now have a network of expert analysts who track and translate the world's leading biofuel producer's rising influence in the post-oil world.

Lula in Davos
They report that Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, that his country volunteers to transfer technology for production of biodiesel and ethanol to poorer countries, most of them in Africa and Central America, for free.

Speaking at the WEF, Lula suggested that rich countries should finance such kind of projects in countries in development, as a form of reducing inequality in the world.

“Biodiesel generates employment, generates income, generates development. Our biofuels program could be an example to be financed by rich nations to poorer nations of Africa and Central America” - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Reviving Doha
The left-leaning president has long been a symbol of the WEF's counterpart, the World Social Forum (WSF), which strives towards the establishment of an economic world order more in tune with the needs of the poorer countries. His presence in Davos is seen by some within the WSF community as betrayal. But Lula refuses to be pinned down by either camp and prefers a pragmatic approach to global problems. In Davos, he called on rich nations not to hold back the developing world by lack of flexibility on global trade talks. Trade ministers from about 30 countries have converged there to try to breathe life into the flagging Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations.

Developing nations have claimed aspects of the talks, including issues of trade tariffs, may hurt the world's poorest. The Doha Development Agenda was launched in 2001. But the talks have foundered on a number of points and have repeatedly stalled over the past few years. Developing nations believe that the EU and US must cut agricultural subsidies if progress is to be made. At the same time, the EU and US want big developing nations, such as Brazil and India, to open up their fast-growing markets in industrial goods and services. Lula said Brazil was ready to make concessions if Europe and the US were prepared to move too.

"We are fighting... to make rich countries aware that if there is no deal on the Doha Round, there will be no point in blaming things on Iraq, or thinking that they can resolve wars by giving out financial help every now and again. It's the possibility of growth, creating jobs and distributing wealth that will create a peaceful world." - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The trade ministers present at the forum have meanwhile agreed to revive the talks.

Making the link between biofuels and Doha
One of the main subjects discussed in Davos was global warming, caused principally by combustion of fossil fuels. Biodiesel and ethanol, if produced under economic and environmentally sustainable conditions, are a viable alternative to those fossil fuels. According to Maciel, tropical countries are exactly the countries who have the best conditions to accomplish such a sustainable and commercially viable production:
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Biofuels Now reports that Lula linked the biofuels opportunity to the trade negotiations, by stating that the USA, instead of producing ethanol from corn, could save much money if it decided to finance and acquire biofuel production from the poorest countries, which would mean a boost to trade and a possibility to lift the trade barriers and subsidies which currently protect the uncompetitive corn ethanol industry.

Maciel sees this as a much better alternative to continue importing oil from potentially hostile suppliers, an alternative not only with lower costs, but also without the burden of oil wars costs. And an alternative that, promoting some substantial development in biofuels producing countries, could not only reduce somewhat the terrible inequalities, but would also lessen the migratory pressure from those countries to USA, Canada and EU.

This is also the thesis of Biofuels Now: "A great number of poor countries in Africa and elsewhere have good environmental conditions that favor the development of sustainable biofuels industries and this could prove of great value for their development in the verge of Peak Oil. We partake completely the Brazilian government policy of taking biofuels technology to many other countries in the world. These countries have available soils, water, cheap land and labor; and also much, much poverty."