Fall 2009
New Publication:
Sustainable
Biofuels and Human Security
Summer 2009 issue of Swords and Ploughshares
The Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS)
in cooperation with the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program (WGGP), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Contents:
Introduction Jürgen Scheffran and Gale Summerfield
Biofuel Conflicts and Human Security: Toward a Sustainable Bioenergy Life Cycle and Infrastructure Jürgen Scheffran
Prospects for the New Bioeconomy Hans P. Blaschek
Biofuels in the Broader Context Clifford E. Singer
Biofuels and Global Poverty Mary Arends-Kuenning
Biofuels: Getting to the Real Facts and Promise about the Food vs. Fuel Debate Anil Hira
Sustainable Biofuel Standards and Certification Timothy M. Smith, Kristell Miller, and Justin Lindenberg
Use of Remote Sensing to Measure Land Use Change from Biofuel Production Steffen Mueller and Ken Copenhaver
A Note on China in the Global Biofuel Scenario Gale Summerfield
Summary: Biofuel production has soared in this decade with backing from government mandates. Seeking to address global warming, promote alternatives to fossil fuels, and increase independence in energy production, many countries have been striving to become key players in the global trade for biofuels as well as increase domestic energy production. Food security and sustainability issues, however, have clouded the future for first generation biofuels. Second-generation production processes, based on cellulosic material and algae, are emerging, but they are not yet commercially viable on a large scale. The papers in this collection address the social and sustainability dimensions of the biofuel debates, including links between biofuels and food price volatility, poverty, and direct and indirect changes in land use.
The papers were selected from a series of three workshops held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May and November 2008 and April 2009. The workshops were sponsored by the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program (WGGP), the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security (ACDIS), the Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER), and the Center for African Studies, with support from many units across campus. Generous support was provided by a Hewlett International Conference Grant, the Sloan Foundation's Industry Studies Group, the Energy Biosciences Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) Global Connect Program, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS).
To access the issue, visit
http://acdis.illinois.edu/publications/207/publication-SustainableBiofuelsandHumanSecurity.html
******
Spring 2009 Events
Sustainable
Biofuels and Human Security:
A Comparison of Brazil and Southern Africa
An International
Hewlett Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
April
16-17, 2009
Levis Faculty Center
Third Floor, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana
This
conference focuses on the human security costs and benefits of increasing
biofuel production and use in Brazil and Southern Africa. Human security
emphasizes basic needs, sustainability, and agency, including gender
equity. Key issues will be impacts of rising food prices, control
of income from marketed crops, and residual products. The conference
will bring together leading scholars from universities and NGOs in
several countries to explore the social dimensions of alternative
energy, poverty, and sustainability associated with recent changes
in Brazil and Southern Africa.
Conference Speakers:
Edmund Amann, Economics, University of Manchester, UK
Mary Arends-Kuenning, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, U of I
Carlos Azzoni, Economics, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Werner Baer, Economics, U of I
Jason Barton, Institute for Genomic Biology, U of I
Hans Blaschek, Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, U of I
Merle Bowen, Center for African Studies, U of I
Saliem Fakir, Living Planet Unit, World Wildlife Fund, South Africa
Anil Hira, Latin Amer. Studies, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Anna Locke, Former Advisor, Ministry of Agriculture, Mozambique
Jürgen Scheffran, Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research; Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security; and Energy Biosciences Institute, U of I
Gale Summerfield, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives, U of I
Carol Thompson, Political Economy, Northern Arizona University
Program Agenda
jointly sponsored by
Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program and Center for African Studies
Co-sponsored by Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, Center for International Business Education and Research, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Hewlett-Lemann Program, International Programs and Studies, Program for Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, Center for Global Studies, and ACES Global Connect.
This conference is funded in part by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
*****
Global Food Security
WGGP & ACDIS
Working Group on Sustainability, Alternative Energy, and Human
Security. Faculty at Illinois and partner universities
identify and explore key issues in research and policy for these
areas. Human security emphasizes basic needs, sustainbility, and
agency, including gender equity.
*********
Past
Events
Sustainable Biofuels and Human Security
Workshop, May
12-13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 8:45 am-5:30 pm
Tuesday, May 13, 8:30 am - 12 pm
Monsanto and Heritage
Rooms, ACES Library, Information and Alumni Center
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana
This workshop
explores national and international research and policies on
sustainable biofuels and addresses ways to move forward. Our
goals are to further the understanding of direct and indirect effects of changes in land use and critical social dimensions
of bioenergy, especially impacts on and involvement of poor women
and men in countries around the world.
Sponsors: Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) and Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA/UK)
Organizers: Illinois: Gale Summerfield (WGGP/HCD); Jürgen Scheffran (ACDIS/CABER); and Madhu Khanna (ACE/IGB); Berkeley: David Zilberman (ARE)
With Support from: Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program (WGGP); Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER); Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS); College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES); European Union Center (EUC); Center for Global Studies (CGS); Human and Community Development (HCD); Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE); and International Programs and Studies (IPS).
Monday May 12
8:45-10:30, Monsanto Room Introductions and Opening Presentations
Moderator: Gale Summerfield, Illinois
Welcome: Robert Easter, Dean of ACES at Illinois
Introduction: Stephen P. Long, EBI/Illinois
Aaron Berry, RFA/UK: RFA Review into the Indirect Impacts of Biofuels: Objectives and Purpose
Keith Wiebe, FAO: Biofuels: Implications for Natural Resources and Food Security in Developing Countries
Jürgen Scheffran, Illinois: Integrating Sustainability and Human Security into Bioenergy Futures
10:45-1:00, Monsanto Room Drivers of Direct and Indirect Land-use Changes and their GHG Implications
Madhu Khanna, Illinois: Economics of Biofuel Production: Implications for Land Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Amani E Elobeid, Iowa State University: The Global Impact of Biofuel Expansion: Accounting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Land Use Changes
Tim Searchinger, Princeton: The Global Impact of Biofuel Expansion: Accounting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Land Use Changes
Bruce Babcock, Iowa State University: The Economics of Land Use Changes from Biofuels Expansion
2:00-4:00, Heritage Room Economics of Biofuels and Food Insecurity Concerns
David Zilberman, UC Berkeley: Income Distribution Implications of Biofuels
Siwa Msangi, IFPRI: Biofuels and the Global Food Economy: Balancing Growth with Human Wellbeing
David Roland-Holst, UC Berkeley: Food and Fuel Security from an Emerging Market Perspective: Tectonic Demand Shifts and Market Tremors
Ben Senauer, University of Minnesota: The Impact of Biofuels on Global Food Markets
4:15-5:30, Heritage Room US Policy and Impacts on Land Use
Harry de Gorter, Cornell University: Welfare Economics of Biofuel Policies
Tom Hertel, Purdue: The Indirect Land Use Impacts of U.S. Biofuel Policies: The Importance of Acreage, Yield, and Bilateral Trade Responses
Wally Tyner, Purdue: Biofuels for All? Understanding the Global Impacts of Multinational Mandates
Tuesday, May 13, Heritage Room
8:30-10:30 Biofuels and the Environment
Kristiina Vogt, Univ. of Washington: Facts and Myths of a Sustainable Carbon Society
Deepak Rajagopal, UC Berkeley: Life Cycle Analysis: What Biofuels Mean to the Environment
Bruce McCarl, Texas A&M: Biofuels and Greenhouse Gases: Economics of Offsets and Leakage
Cliff Singer and Hadi Esfahani, Illinois: Biofuels: What Are We After?
Vincent Camobreco EPA: EPA Biofuel Life Cycle GHG Analysis for the Energy Independence and Security Act
10:45-12:00 Alternative Energy, Human Security and Social Impacts
Irene Tinker, UC Berkeley: From Biomass to Biofuels, From Cookstoves to Cars: Impacts on the World’s Poor
Richenda van Leeuwen, Good Energies: Renewables, Gender and Society
Russ deLucia, S3IDF: The Need for Explicitly Pro-poor Business Models for Sustainable Bio-Energy Development
Gale Summerfield, Illinois: Engendering the Biofuels Debate
Workshop Program in pdf
*****
February
14, Thursday, 9:30 a.m.: Roundtable
Discussion on Bioenergy:
Strategies for Mitigating the Food Versus Fuel Controversy,
with special guest Joachim
von Braun, Director General of the International
Food Policy Research Institute (IPPRI), Washington, DC, Room
612, Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), 1206 W. Gregory Drive,
Urbana, Featured Panelists: Hans Blaschek,
Director for the Center for Advanced Bioenergy Research (CABER),
UIUC; Madhu Khanna, Professor of Agricultural
and Consumer Economics, UIUC; Gale Summerfield,
Director, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, UIUC; Bill
Worek, Director of the Energy Resource Center, UIC. Moderator:
Jurgen Scheffran, CABER. To attend, RSVP to 244-2295
or heap@uiuc.edu before Feb. 11.
*****
MillerComm
Lecture:
Biofuels and the World Food Situation
Joachim
von Braun
Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
- a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR),
February 14, 2008, Thursday, 4:00
p.m.
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory, Urbana
sponsored by ACES Global Connect, WGGP and others.
Using
more of the world’s crops as energy sources could threaten
food supplies to those people who are most in need, especially
at prices that are competitive on the world market. Joachim von
Braun assesses opportunities and risks in the development of bioenergy
to discuss the changing role of the United States in assisting
famine intervention worldwide. Dr. von Braun's expertise leading
IFPRI's efforts to provide research-based sustainable solutions
for ending hunger and malnutrition, and his previous position as
director of the Center for Development Research and professor of
Economics and Technological Change at the University of Bonn, Germany,
will bring a unique perspective on a variety of issues to our campus.
[Selected
Publications]
