Brazilian government to outlaw sugar cane planting in Amazon and Pantanal

The Brazilian government announces [*Portuguese] a new set of measures to get rid of the many misunderstandings surrounding the country's sugar cane ethanol, once and for all. Part of the new legislation will be largely symbolic.

In some circles and amongst the public at large, there is a serious lack of knowledge about the Brazilian ethanol industry. People think the sugar cane from which the fuel is derived, is grown in the Amazon rainforest or contributes to its deforestation. Nothing is further from the truth. The vast bulk of the cane is grown 1000 miles south of the Amazon in the south-central state of São Paulo, and far away from biodiversity hotspots like the Pantanal (map, click to enlarge). There is no indication that second-order effects from the expansion of sugar cane plantations results in increased deforestation (and as such, let's not forget that, over the past few years, the current Brazilian government succeeded in reducing deforestation rates by 50% - a major effort and historic trend-reversal lauded by even the most critical environmentalist). Even U.S. energy officials - who have not the slightest interest in saying so, on the contrary - recently stressed that Brazilian biofuels have no impacts on the rainforest (earlier post).

In Brazil, there are approximately 440 million hectares of arable land. The sugar cane industry uses up only 1 per cent of this area (but yields a tremendous amount of energy that has made Brazil independent of oil imports). Still, some groups who work against Brazil's successful model - which it wants to export to poor developing countries to their great benefit - are deliberately creating a false image of this sector. These groups include some players of the oil industry, a select club of radical environmentalists, and lobbyists from the US and EU ethanol industry, who fear that the much more efficient, sustainable and competitive Brazilian fuels will replace theirs. Indeed, sugar cane ethanol has an energy balance of between 8 and 10 to 1, corn ethanol has an energy balance of 1 to 1, with some even finding a negative balance; likewise, cane ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% compared to gasoline, for corn ethanol the reduction is marginal, at around 0 to 10 per cent. In short, as independent scientists have repeatedly said: Brazilian ethanol is largely sustainable, helps tackle climate change and is highly energy efficient (see here and here); corn ethanol is neither).

The Brazilian government, and president Lula in particular, have tried their best to explain the reality of the sugar cane industry in the country, but some misunderstandings seem to persist. For this reason, Brazil will now explicitly outlaw the growing of cane in both the Amazon and the Pantanal. This step is an international marketing effort needed to convince the rich countries of the benefits of trading and importing Brazilian biofuels. Experts are already convinced of the many advantages of such a trade, but now the uninformed, the unwilling and the anti-Brazilian lobbies must be countered.

Zoning
The legislation will result in the production of an agricultural zoning-map that will clearly delineate areas where sugar cane will be allowed to grow. For the time being, measures to penalise those who do not follow the zoning order have not been outlined. The map will be ready within one year.

Speaking to an audience of international journalists at a conference on Brazilian biofuel exports to Europe, Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes announced the decision, and added that areas other than the Amazon will be studied for protection:

This is a governmental decision. We are going to create a zoning system for sugar cane, with a restrictive map. This map will outlaw every possibility of establishing plantations in the biome of the Amazon and the Pantanal. - Reinhold Stephanes, Minister of Agriculture of Brazil

The law is largely symbolical, because it makes no economic nor agronomic sense to grow cane in the rainforest anyways, the climate and soils of which are not conducive to a good crop. But such a law is most certainly welcome.

A more important pillar of the zoning map will consist of a set of incentives funded by the federal government to stimulate sugar cane growers to plant the crop in degraded areas, like old pastures. There are millions of hectares of such degraded pastures laying around unproductively today. Planting sugar cane on them would partly restore their health.

Finally, and crucially, by December of this year, the government will finalise its social and environmental sustainability criteria for both ethanol and biodiesel, which will facilitate the international trade of these biofuels:
energy :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: sugar cane :: Amazon :: Pantanal :: environmental sustainability :: social sustainability :: pasture :: Brazil ::

"The basic certification documents will soon be finalised and distributed amongst the producers", the Agriculture Minister said.

President Lula, who, after a long campaign, finally convinced the EU of the many benefits of Brazilian ethanol as compared to EU- and US-produced biofuels, has developed a smart discourse to counter prevailing misunderstandings about the sector that has made his country the focus of international attention. This has even turned Sweden, a world leading example of a country that makes intelligent green and sustainable energy choices, into an outspoken ally of the Brazilian vision (earlier post).

Both at the landmark International Conference on Biofuels held recently in Brussels, as well as in numerous speeches, columns and televised debates, the president has routinely summarized the facts:

• that cane is not grown in the Amazon, and that it never will, simply because of agro-technical reasons;
• that labor conditions have been historically bad, but that progress towards the humanisation of the sector is being and will be made (cane cutters are now much better protected by new laws and receive far better wages than ever before - but more is needed to improve the working conditions);
• that the benefits of Brazil's model far outweigh the disadvantages (the substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions helps protect the environment because unmitigated climate change will be disastrous for the entire planet and all of its biodiversity, not only for the Amazon or the Pantanal);
• that the Brazilian model can be exported to poor developing countries, most notably African, who stand to benefit massively from it

A whole set of objective and scientifically sound arguments.

When it comes to food versus fuel, Lula has stressed over and over again, with clear scientific and sociological backing, that food insecurity is not a matter of a lack of food, but of a lack of income to buy food (earlier post). Sugar cane ethanol does not in any way threaten food output or prices, on the contrary, it allows farmers to boost incomes and countries to cut expensive oil imports. This may benefit the poor (the vast majority of whom rely on agriculture and who eat more than sugar alone). However, there is no denying that the utilization of food crops such as corn - which should never be used for the production of ethanol because they are inefficient, don't reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and have a very weak energy balance - can have disastrous consequences for the millions of poor who depend on it for their daily needs. Sugar cane is not corn. It cannot be repeated often enough.

One of the more often quoted points made by Lula is of a mildly ironic and historiographic nature. It goes something like this:

The Portuguese who came here first and who introduced sugar cane to Brazil, were very intelligent people. 470 years ago, they discovered the Amazon, and they have never planted a single cane stalk there. They didn't, because the climate and the soil there are simply not suitable. Instead, they started planting cane a thousand miles south, in São Paulo, where it still grows today.

Earlier, Lula often spoke in terms of 'national pride' when it comes to Brazil's successful biofuels industry. Today, he speaks in terms of 'national sovereignty' which is boosted by the fuel, but also of 'international solidarity'. It is taken this seriously. And if it is up to Lula - a pragmatic leftist, and president of the largest African community oustide the African continent - the benefits of Brazilian biofuels will soon be exported to some of the poorest countries in the world, most notably to Africa. There, they can strengthen economies and rural population's livelihoods, cut foreign energy dependence, and indeed, beef up much needed 'sovereignty'. For Lula, biofuels are a matter of international cooperation, fair play, and solidarity. The Biopact shares this vision, and hopes it can contribute to developing it further.

References:
EthanolBrasil: Governo veta plantio de cana na Amazônia - July 18, 2007.

Biopact: Brazilian ethanol is sustainable and has a very positive energy balance - IEA report - October 08, 2006

Biopact: Nature sets the record straight on Brazilian ethanol - December 09, 2006

Biopact: Two handy books answer FAQs on Brazilian ethanol - May 22, 2007