India Environment Portal | News, reports, documents, blogs, data, analysis on environment & development | India, South Asia
Published on India Environment Portal | News, reports, documents, blogs, data, analysis on environment & development | India, South Asia (http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in)

Home > Reports and Documents > The impacts of biofuel targets on land-use change and food supply > The impacts of biofuel targets on land-use change and food supply

The impacts of biofuel targets on land-use change and food supply [1]

This study analyzes the long-term impacts of large-scale expansion of biofuels on land-use change, food supply and prices, and the overall economy in various countries or regions using a global computable general equilibrium model, augmented by a land-use module and detailed representation of biofuel sectors. The study finds that an expansion of global biofuel production to meet currently articulated or even higher national targets in various countries for biofuel use would reduce gross domestic product at the global level; however, the gross domestic product impacts are mixed across countries or regions. The expansion of biofuels would cause significant land re-allocation with notable decreases in forest and pasture lands in a few countries. The results also suggest that the expansion of biofuels would cause a reduction in food supply. Although the magnitude of the impact on
food supply at the global level is not as large as perceived
earlier, it would be significant in developing countries like India and those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural commodities such as sugar, corn, and oil seeds, which serve as the main biofuel feedstocks, would experience significant increases in their prices in 2020 compared with the prices at baseline due to the expansion of
biofuels to meet the existing targets.

Publication Date: 
01/12/2010
Govinda R. Timilsina [2], John C. Beghin [3], Dominique van der Mensbrugghe [4], & etal [5]
The World Bank [6]
Tags:
Biofuel [7], Ethanol [8], Biodiesel [9], Land Use [10], Food Supply [11], India [12], Developing Countries [13], Energy [14]
Centre for Science and Environment
National Knowledge Commission Government of India

Technology Partners: MimirTech


India Environment Portal by Centre for Science and Environment is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 India License.


Source URL: http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/reports-documents/impacts-biofuel-targets-land-use-change-and-food-supply

Links:
[1] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/reports-documents/impacts-biofuel-targets-land-use-change-and-food-supply
[2] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/govinda-r-timilsina
[3] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/john-c-beghin
[4] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/dominique-van-der-mensbrugghe
[5] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/etal
[6] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/publisher/world-bank
[7] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/biofuel
[8] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/ethanol
[9] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/biodiesel
[10] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/land-use
[11] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/food-supply
[12] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/india
[13] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/developing-countries
[14] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/energy