Is the Brazilian rainforest being ravaged to produce ethanol?
In Brazil ethanol is made from sugar cane. The threat to the rainforest is very worrying, but it has nothing to do with cultivation of sugar cane. Brazil is a very big country – it takes five hours to fly from North to South. Cultivation of sugar cane takes place several thousand kilometres from the rainforest. Reports confirming this are available from Sweden’s National Environmental Protection Board and the organisation for green motoring Gröna Bilister. To meet environmental requirements and guarantee the quality of bioethanol, prominent Swedish, European, and Brazilian researchers in collaboration with the Brazilian government and the International Energy Agency and at the initiative of BAFF have set up specifications of requirements, criteria, and regulations regarding ethanol production. Read more about that at www.sustainableethanolinitiative.com.
