Developing countries

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Bioenergy > Regions > Developing countries

Map of "developed" and "developing countries" of the world as designated by the International Monetary Fund in 2009. 'Developed' economies are shown in blue, with 'emerging countries' and 'developing economies' shown in orange. Source

Developing countries are collectively also known as the "global south".

News

• CLIMATE CHANGE: Brazil Defends Biofuels, 9 December 2009 by IPS/TerraViva: "Being the world’s largest producer and exporter of ethanol it is natural for the Brazilian government and its partners to push biofuels as the only real alternative for a world trying wean itself away from fossil fuels that contribute to global warming."
  • "Brazilian authorities were ready with their arguments at the United Nations climate change summit"...."at pains to show that not only is biofuel production the best way to reduce greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions but can also combat poverty as exemplified by the country’s scheme to promote micro-distilleries to provide additional income for rural families."
  • "While admitting that "biofuels are no silver bullet," Brazilian authorities insist that biofuels are the best way forward for developing countries."[1]

Subsistence agriculture in developing Africa.

• Standards proposed for REDD-plus, 12 October 2009 by carbonpositive: The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) and CARE have produced the 'REDD+ SE' standard, "a qualitative approach setting out the basic principles a REDD programme would need to follow to ensure people’s rights and environmental impacts are properly recognised and accounted for. The eight principles, and criteria for the minimum requirements in meeting them, were identified in a series of stakeholder consultations run by CCBAand CARE this year." [2]

• UN's forest protection scheme at risk from organised crime, experts warn, 5 October 2009 by guardian.co.uk: "International police, politicians and conservationists warn that the UN's programme to cut carbon emissions by paying poor countries to preserve their forests is 'open to wide abuse'".
  • "...academics and environment groups with long experience working with the logging industry and indigenous communities said that both government and private schemes are being set up with no guarantees to protect communities who depend on the forests. 'Decisions are being rushed, communities are not consulted or compensated and the lure of money from cutting emissions is overiding everything,' says Rosalind Reeve of forestry watchdog group Global Witness."

• New paper by Tim Searchinger: Evaluating Biofuels: The Consequences of Using Land to Make Fuel (PDF file), published by the German Marshall Fund of the United States - 2009.
  • "To the extent biofuel critics have blamed these rises in crop price for increased retail food prices in the United States and Europe, they have probably exaggerated. Crop prices are a small fraction of the retail food prices paid in grocery stores, and an even smaller fraction in restaurants. But the impact on the poor in developing countries is large, particularly on the roughly one billion people who live on $1 per day or less and who are likely already chronically malnourished, and the three billion who live on less than $2 per day."

International net loss and net gain in 'forest' by country for the period 1990-2005 (modified from the World Resources Institute)

• `REDD plus' to give RI double benefits, 8 July 2009 by The Jakarta Post: "the REDD-plus...mechanism will pave the way for developing countries to seek greater incentives if they conserve forest areas, adopt sustainable environment management programs or plant new trees."
  • "Indonesia could be granted around US$15 billion worth financial incentives by avoiding forest destruction under the REDD mechanism."
  • "If Indonesia can manage only a fifth of its forest carbon potential, the country stands to make $3 billion per year based on current carbon prices."

Events

• 6-7 October 2009, Accra, Ghana: Katoomba XV - Ghana: Payments for Ecosystem Services in West Africa (and looking forward to Central Africa) (Themes: REDD, local peoples, ecosystem services, West Africa, Central Africa, developing countries, forests)

Resources

• Biodiversity and Climate Change Action - Recent CBD scientific findings on biodiversity and climate change, November 2009 Information Note 1 for UNFCCC COP15 by the Convention on Biological Diversity.
  • This report provides a summary of "the interdependence of biodiversity and climate change" with a focus on forest ecosystem resilience; ocean acidification; ocean fertilization; peatlands degradation; and ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation."
• Biodiversity and Climate Action, Convention on Biological Diversity publication for the 2009 Copenhagen UNFCCC Climate Conference.
• Biodiversity, Gender and Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity publication for the 2009 Copenhagen UNFCCC Climate Conference.
  • The authors present the opinion that "As with biodiversity, climate change does not affect women and men in the same way and...has a gender-differentiated impact."
  • This report argues that "all aspects related to climate change mitigation, adaptation, policy development, and decision making should include a gender perspective."
• From Source to Sink - Reducing Commodity Agriculture's Impacts on Natural Lands - December 2009, National Wildlife Federation.
• The Natural Fix? The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Mitigation, A UNEP Rapid Response Assessment (PDF). Trumper, K., et al. June 2009. United Nations Environment Programme, UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. (ISBN: 978-82-7701-057-1).

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