What is the WLTs position regarding biofuels from monoculture plantations established at the expense of forest?
World Land Trust believes that any gain from increased use of biofuels produced by existing technology is negated by the deforestation needed to establish the plantations while exacerbating loss of biodiversity. Please see our policy statement on biofuels. It seems pointless to solve one problem by worsening another – the two concerns have to be taken together, which is why WLT restoration ecology projects aim to benefit biodiversity and conserve endangered habitat alongside carbon sequestration. This is also the underlying principle for the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance Standard criteria, used by WLT to guide project design. This standard evaluates projects based on their combined contribution to climate mitigation, biodiversity and the local community and therefore only projects which will benefit both biodiversity and local communities will gain approval.
