Warns Of Land Grabs For Renewable Energy

Research

Researches at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

states that demand for the renewable energy worldwide could increase land grabs.

In a report issued recently states that  Rising demand for the dominant form of renewable energy worldwide – wood – could drive yet more acquisitions of land in developing countries where food insecurity is rising and land rights are weak, Wood accounts for 67% of global renewable energy supplies, and many countries in the global North are increasing their use of it both to reduce their reliance on costly fossil fuels and to mitigate climate change. Such countries are setting ambitious targets for using renewable energy, including biomass, but with demand for wood set to outstrip supply by up to 600% in some countries, and high tree growth rates in the tropics, investors are beginning to look South. “All eyes are turned to food and Bio fuels, but tree plantations for biomass energy may soon become an important driver in the global land rush,” says Dr Lorenzo Cotula, a senior researcher at IIED and co-author of the paper. Duncan Macqueen, also a senior researcher and co-author adds: “Wood is a vital renewable energy source, and countries in the South should develop it for local energy security, not export it to fuel Northern energy deficits at the expense of their own people.”