Former US president Bill Clinton spoke out against rainforest destruction on Monday in Brazil. Headlining the Ethanol Summit 2009 in Sao Paulo, Clinton spoke of the positive role ethanol could play in lowering carbon emissions, but not when at the expense of rainforest.
“What people are worried about Brazil is not (whether) you have the most efficient biofuel in the world… everybody knows that is true,” Clinton said, as quoted by Reuters. “(But) the world would say if we let Brazil help us solve our problem at the price of more rainforest destruction, have we really gained anything? That’s what you have to answer.”
While most ethanol is produced on agricultural land and not on rainforests there is ample evidence that ethanol production has pushed other farmers and ranchers deeper into the Amazon for land, causing largescale indirect deforestation.
Bill Clinton also noted that 75 percent of Brazil’s carbon emissions are due entirely to deforestation in the Amazon. Worldwide deforestation makes up about 15 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.
The Ethanol Summit is mostly composed of ethanol businessmen and women.
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