TY - JOUR
T1 - Bioenergy and land-use competition in Northeast Brazil
AU - Azar, Christian
AU - Larson, Eric D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The research for this paper was primarily carried out during a five-week stay by one of the authors (Christian Azar, CA) at ETENE (Escritorio Tecnico Economico de Nordeste) at Banco do Nordeste, Fortaleza, Brazil. Without the hospitality of Everton Chaves Correia and Francisco Raimundo Evangelista and co-workers at ETENE, this project would not have been possible. For additional assistance in Brazil, CA also wishes to thank Viseldo Ribeiro de Oliveira (EMBRAPA, Petrolina, Pernambuco), Ney Guilherme Leal de Macedo and Alejandre Jose de Carneiro Leao (CHESF, Recife), and Mauricio João da Silva (Paineiras, Urbano Santos, Maranhão). The authors also thank Göran Berndes, Laura Schneider, Luiz Solor-zano and Richard van den Broek for useful discussions, and Sivan Kartha, Eduardo Car-pentieri, Andre Faaij and Dean Abrahamsson for discussions and valuable comments on the paper. CA gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Swedish Council for Planning and Cooperation of Research (FRN) and the Swedish National Energy Administration (STEM). Eric Larson thanks the W. Alton Jones Foundation and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for financial support. Notes 1.Still, it should be kept in mind that so called ‘‘degraded lands’’ or ‘‘waste lands’’ provide the livelihood for poor people in many parts of the world. The establishment of plantations on such lands has in many cases brought negative consequences to people using these lands as common lands [Carrere and Lohman, 1996]. 2.The cerrado was recently included as one out of 25 hot spots for biodiversity conservation priorities [Myers et al., 2000]. 3.Companhia Hidroelectrica do São Francisco (CHESF). 4.Still, there are millions of people who live on these lands and rely on them for their living. 5.See Carrere and Lohman [1996] for a critical assessment of Aracruz plantations. 6.Sweden has had a CO2 tax in place for a decade. Currently the tax is 180 US$/tC for private households and 90 US$/tC for industries. The use of biomass, primarily logging residues, in Swedish district heating plants has increased by 2 TWh/year annually or 150% in total since the tax was introduced, and biomass now accounts for 20% of Sweden’s primary energy supply [Energiläget, 1999; Kaberger, 1997]. 7.This is obtained by equating the delivered wood cost (Equation 1) with the same cost relationship but with CL replaced by (CL + DCL) and y replaced by (y + Dy).
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2000/10
Y1 - 2000/10
N2 - It is often claimed that dedicated energy plantations may be established on degraded lands so as to prevent competition with food production. In this paper, the economics of eucalyptus plantations in the Northeast of Brazil on "good" versus "bad" lands is investigated. It is shown that the value of the higher yields that can be expected on "good" lands generally outweighs the additional cost associated with acquiring that land. For this reason, forestry companies would find it more profitable to opt for "good" lands rather than degraded lands when establishing plantations, although exceptions do exist. Thus, governmental policies are warranted if use of degraded lands for bioenergy plantations is desired.
AB - It is often claimed that dedicated energy plantations may be established on degraded lands so as to prevent competition with food production. In this paper, the economics of eucalyptus plantations in the Northeast of Brazil on "good" versus "bad" lands is investigated. It is shown that the value of the higher yields that can be expected on "good" lands generally outweighs the additional cost associated with acquiring that land. For this reason, forestry companies would find it more profitable to opt for "good" lands rather than degraded lands when establishing plantations, although exceptions do exist. Thus, governmental policies are warranted if use of degraded lands for bioenergy plantations is desired.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0973-0826(08)60254-9
DO - 10.1016/S0973-0826(08)60254-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0012301294
SN - 0973-0826
VL - 4
SP - 64
EP - 71
JO - Energy for Sustainable Development
JF - Energy for Sustainable Development
IS - 3
ER -