23 Apr 2007 - Frankfurt,
Germany - Unless demand for palm oil as
a biofuel is met through oil palm grown
on fallow and previously uncultivated lands,
and not through clearing of valuable rainforests,
palm oil as a renewable energy source is
not climate-friendly, said WWF.
On the surface, the use of palm oil as
an energy source appears environmentally-friendly
as it replaces fossil fuels and is CO2 neutral.
However, when the entire production chain
of turning palm oil into a biofuel is taken
into account, a different picture emerges.
A new study Rainforests for Biodiesel?,
commissioned by WWF, investigated the environmental
effects of oil palm cultivation, looking
at various land-use changes and calculating
the corresponding energy and greenhouse
gas balances. It is the first study to provide
an "ecobalance" calculation of
palm oil cultivation.
“The use of palm oil can be either good
or bad for the environment," said Imke
Lübbeke, WWF Germany's bioenergy officer.
"It depends on where the palm oil is
grown for instance cleared forests, fallow
land or plantations of other crops, and
how the plantation is managed.”
The study noted that the cultivation and
transport of palm oil can also produce more
greenhouse gases than the fossil fuels that
would otherwise be used. An example of negative
greenhouse gas effects resulting from the
oil palm cultivation can be found in parts
of Southeast Asia when plantations are established
on former peatlands and where lands are
prepared using fires. Peatlands — rich densely
packed soils made up of dead organic matter,
mainly plants — are known as 'carbon sinks'
for their ability to store more carbon per
unit area than any other ecosystem. Although
they occupy only 3-5% of the earth's land
and fresh water surface, they absorb 25-30%
of the world's carbon dioxide.
Initial estimates indicate that Indonesia
has sufficient suitable fallow land, approximately
20 million hectares, to potentially meet
most of the growing demand for palm oil
over the next few years. “It is imperative
that the use of fallow lands for oil palm
cultivation be considered and prioritised
before more rainforests are destroyed,”
said Markus Radday, WWF Germany's tropical
forest officer.
Palm oil production must also meet the
criteria developed by the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Certified sustainable
palm oil is not yet available, but environmentalists
expect it to be on the market as early as
July this year.
"According to various institutions'
prognoses, there is no doubt that palm oil
will increasingly play a role as a source
of bio-energy and in the food and consumer
goods industries,” said Ms Lübbeke.
“All those interested in the long-term and
sustainable use of this raw material must
urgently create the necessary legal framework
in Germany and Europe. Voluntary agreements
alone are not enough. We need binding sustainability
criteria for the use of palm oil as a biofuel,
which for instance would also ensure a significant
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.”
+ More
EU governments failing the forests
30 Apr 2007 - Brussels, Belgium – European
governments are dragging their heels on
a key EU initiative designed to tackle illegal
logging, according to a new assessment released
by WWF today.
The Illegal Logging Government Barometer
shows that the UK and Austria are doing
the most and Ireland and the Czech Republic
the least to prevent unsustainable timber
coming into the EU.
The Barometer assesses the efforts of European
governments to implement the EU’s Action
Plan on Forest Law Enforcement Governance
& Trade (FLEGT), which encourages voluntary
partnerships between EU countries and timber
producing countries to reduce illegal logging.
Each EU government has also committed to
devise a national action plan to eliminate
the trade in illegal and unsustainable timber
and wood products.
Four years after the Action Plan was approved,
the assessment shows that 19 of 27 European
governments included in the survey – or
70 per cent – are failing to take any real
action to implement it successfully. Eight
countries are taking limited action and
only one country, Austria, has implemented
a time-bound plan with the explicit aim
of eliminating illegal logging and corruption
from domestic wood production as well as
timber and wood product imports.
Beatrix Richards, Head of Forests at WWF-UK,
said: “Four years ago the EU introduced
a flagship Action Plan designed to tackle
the growing problem of illegal logging.
Today, very little progress has been made
and this is down to individual governments
who have dragged their heels on this issue.
“Illegal logging is a huge environmental,
social and economic problem which often
deprives local communities who rely on forests
for their livelihoods. The EU, as a massive
consumer of timber, has a key role to play
in tackling the illegal element of the trade.”
The UK is currently the only government
which says it can demonstrate - through
a partnership with Indonesia - to have reduced
levels of illegal logging in a wood-producing
country. However, this partnership agreement
pre-dates the EU illegal logging initiative.
The failure of Ireland and the Czech Republic
to do anything proactively on illegal logging,
and a lack of awareness about the EU Action
Plan, has landed them at the bottom of the
table.
Austria, which is ranked second, has improved
its efforts on illegal timber more than
any other government over the last year.
Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic,
which all have high forest cover, appear
to have given low priority to global deforestation
issues and have subsequently achieved some
of the lowest scores. This is at odds with
other EU Member States with high forest
cover such as Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria,
who have all achieved much higher scores.
To close critical loopholes in the current
legislation, WWF is calling for new legislation
to be developed to outlaw the import of
illegal timber and wood products into the
EU.
END NOTES:
• Luxembourg was the only EU member state
not included in the survey.
• Switzerland is not an EU member state
but cooperates on EU FLEGT issues and has
taken part in the survey.
• While the UK is making the most efforts
to implement the FLEGT Action Plan, it cannot
prove that its timber buying policy is having
a positive effect. A WWF report in November
2005 showed that the UK was the biggest
importer of illegal timber in Europe and
when both illegal timber and pulp and paper
are combined, it is the third worst in Europe,
behind Finland and Sweden respectively.
• WWF believes that there are a number
of loopholes within the voluntary partnership
agreement process, which is part of the
EU FLEGT Action Plan. Currently it does
not: prevent timber being imported into
the EU through third countries such as China;
stipulate that any partner country entering
into a voluntary partnership agreement with
the EU must have a domestic legislation
in place to prohibit the importation of
illegally logged timber and wood products;
and guarantee that pulp, paper and furniture
are excluded from the scheme.
• WWF is calling on the EU to take far
more active steps to encourage other major
producers such as China, Japan and the US
to eliminate illegal timber from their own
imports.
Alison Sutton, Senior Press Officer
WWF-UK
Edith Verhoestraete, Communications Officer
WWF European Policy Office
