Chile and the U.S. to cooperate on biofuels development
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and his delegation of U.S. Department of Energy officials conclude their tour of South America by signing [*Spanish] a biofuels research and development cooperation agreement with Chile. Earlier they visited Brazil where the previously signed U.S.-Brazil ethanol agreement was further discussed. However, Brazil did not succeed in persuading the American delegation to plea for a reduction of U.S. farm subsidies.
Paulson met with Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and stressed that the U.S. bioenergy initiative is focused on the entire Latin-American region. It will be managed by the Department of Energy (USDOE).
Noting that a number of Latin American nations struggle to meet energy demand, Paulson said the region has a common interest in sharing technology and developing new energy sources - especially clean and renewable ones.
In Chile, the U.S. wants to help develop biofuel research and production from new, non-food crops that thrive in arid environments. Both countries could greatly benefit from this, as both in Chile and the U.S., new farmland is scarce, but semi-arid zones are plenty. Technologies will be shared to convert biomass into liquid fuels and other biomaterials.
Chile currently suffers under a great energy deficit, and has had to take emergency measures to get both natural gas and liquid fuels supplied from neighboring countries. Lack of investment in energy infrastructures during previous governments is partly to blame. High energy costs and energy dependence are factors as well.
For the U.S., Paulson stressed, energy security is not only a national issue; the security of supplies in other countries is important for geostrategic reasons. "All of us stand to benefit from security of energy supplies", Paulson said.
Some analysts see Washington's biofuels initiative in the region as a way to counter the rising influence of Venezuala's Hugo Chávez, who is an outspoken critic of the U.S. and who uses petroleum as a geopolitical weapon:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy security :: geopolitics :: United States :: Chile ::
Meeting with Finance Minister Andres Velasco, Paulson praised Chile's committment to neo-liberal market economics, despite Bachelet being a social-democrat and despite the region's turn to the left.
The Secretary further visited Urugay and Brazil, where new bilateral relations were discussed. The Brazilian government, who leads the G20 group of developing nations in trade negotiations, aims to get the U.S. to reduce its annual farm subsidies from the current $17billion to $12 billion - a precondition for the G20 to accept any Doha deal. The American delegation did not signal any way forward on this longstanding issue.
The U.S. delegation met in Montevideo with Uruguay's president Tabaré Vázquez, and with the Ministers of Economy of Uruguay, Mexio and Chile to discuss bilateral and multilateral cooperation on other fronts. Paulson stressed the U.S. is willing to cooperate with Latin American countries, on the condition that they are clearly committed to free market economics.
References:
Ministerio de Hacienda: Chile y Estados Unidos anuncian colaboración energética centrada en desarrollo de biocombustibles - July 13, 2007.
Gobierno de Chile: Presidenta Bachelet se reunió con secretario del tesoro de Estados Unidos - July 13, 2007.
U.S. Dept. of the Treasury: Treasury Secretary Paulson Visits Brazil, Uruguay and Chile This Week - July 11, 2007.
Article continues
Paulson met with Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and stressed that the U.S. bioenergy initiative is focused on the entire Latin-American region. It will be managed by the Department of Energy (USDOE).
Noting that a number of Latin American nations struggle to meet energy demand, Paulson said the region has a common interest in sharing technology and developing new energy sources - especially clean and renewable ones.
In Chile, the U.S. wants to help develop biofuel research and production from new, non-food crops that thrive in arid environments. Both countries could greatly benefit from this, as both in Chile and the U.S., new farmland is scarce, but semi-arid zones are plenty. Technologies will be shared to convert biomass into liquid fuels and other biomaterials.
This initiative is aimed at cooperating and jointly researching biofuel development. We will focus on biofuels that have the following characteristics: they are clearly 'clean' [i.e. they help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution], energy efficient and at the same time are derived from new, non-food crops. - Andres Velasco, Chile's Finance MinisterThe cooperation will be coordinated by a consortium of universities, research organisations and industry, united in the Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO), already active in researching renewable energies.
Chile currently suffers under a great energy deficit, and has had to take emergency measures to get both natural gas and liquid fuels supplied from neighboring countries. Lack of investment in energy infrastructures during previous governments is partly to blame. High energy costs and energy dependence are factors as well.
For the U.S., Paulson stressed, energy security is not only a national issue; the security of supplies in other countries is important for geostrategic reasons. "All of us stand to benefit from security of energy supplies", Paulson said.
Some analysts see Washington's biofuels initiative in the region as a way to counter the rising influence of Venezuala's Hugo Chávez, who is an outspoken critic of the U.S. and who uses petroleum as a geopolitical weapon:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy security :: geopolitics :: United States :: Chile ::
Meeting with Finance Minister Andres Velasco, Paulson praised Chile's committment to neo-liberal market economics, despite Bachelet being a social-democrat and despite the region's turn to the left.
The Secretary further visited Urugay and Brazil, where new bilateral relations were discussed. The Brazilian government, who leads the G20 group of developing nations in trade negotiations, aims to get the U.S. to reduce its annual farm subsidies from the current $17billion to $12 billion - a precondition for the G20 to accept any Doha deal. The American delegation did not signal any way forward on this longstanding issue.
The U.S. delegation met in Montevideo with Uruguay's president Tabaré Vázquez, and with the Ministers of Economy of Uruguay, Mexio and Chile to discuss bilateral and multilateral cooperation on other fronts. Paulson stressed the U.S. is willing to cooperate with Latin American countries, on the condition that they are clearly committed to free market economics.
References:
Ministerio de Hacienda: Chile y Estados Unidos anuncian colaboración energética centrada en desarrollo de biocombustibles - July 13, 2007.
Gobierno de Chile: Presidenta Bachelet se reunió con secretario del tesoro de Estados Unidos - July 13, 2007.
U.S. Dept. of the Treasury: Treasury Secretary Paulson Visits Brazil, Uruguay and Chile This Week - July 11, 2007.
Article continues
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Emigration of unskilled workers increases child labor
The topic is of interest to the Biopact, because some African countries, like Senegal, as well as EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Development, Louis Michel, have stressed that bioenergy production may offer an opportunity to reduce emigration pressures. Tens of thousands of Africans try to reach Europe each year, at the risk of losing their lives in the process, and Senegal is key transit point (map, click to enlarge). The country's president, Abdoulaye Wade, is one of the staunchest advocates of utilising biofuels as a way to secure jobs on the continent and thus to reduce emigration flows. Their potential to generate employment and wealth amongst rural communities makes that biofuels can contribute to relieving two waves typical of this exodus: poverty-driven internal migration from rural areas to the cities, and the poverty encountered there by unskilled workers who then decide to migrate further (earlier post).
The researchers say that the problem of child labor is arguably one of the most important issues of our time:
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), about 15 percent of children worldwide between the ages of 5 and 14 are classified as child laborers. Of these working children, about 171 million children work in hazardous conditions and 5.7 million are forced to work against their will.
In contrast to prior economic models about child labor that assume altruistic parents reluctant to part with their children, Dinopoulos and Zhao propose a model that incorporates the idea that at least some children go to work because their parents are eager for the additional income:
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: labor :: poverty :: child labor :: emigration :: Africa ::
The study also assumes that while skilled and educated adults can do things children cannot do - working as foremen, supervisors or machine operators - children can perform similar work as unskilled adult workers, especially in the agrarian sector.
The analysis further shows other conditions under which globalization-related changes can affect the incidence of child labor, including trade policies that encourage the production of child-labor intensive products and taxes that discourage foreign investment in child-labor-free sectors in developing countries.
When it comes to the poverty-alleviating power of bioenergy, it is clear that the sector is no panacea. As Dinopoulous and Zhao show, child labor often occurs in the agrarian sector. So in the context of biofuels, the issue remains highly complex and carries risks:
- biofuel production may offer jobs and additional incomes for rural populations, reducing emigration pressures, and thus indirectly lead to a reduction of child labor
- but biofuel production may just as well entice parents who see the opportunity for additional incomes to push their children into farm labor directly
As for all products, national governments must be encouraged to monitor and fight child labor, in biofuel production as well; wealthy nations and consumers can contribute by demanding full transparency from companies who produce exportable goods in developing countries. When it comes to biofuels, social sustainability criteria will obviously have to include clear provisions aimed at monitoring and preventing child labor.Picture: Bitter chocolate: An African child drying cacao beans in West Africa's plantations. Credit: Project Hope and Fairness.
Map: Key migrant routes from Africa to Europe. Courtesy: BBC.
References:
Elias Dinopoulos and Laixun Zhao, "Child Labor and Globalization" [*abstract], Journal of Labor Economics, 2007, vol. 25, no. 3.
BBC: Destination Europe: Key facts: Africa to Europe migration.
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posted by Biopact team at 5:03 PM 0 comments links to this post