Biofuels expansion in the plate river basin - sharing knowledge between social actors and researchers

Expansion in biofuel feedstock production in the Paraná-Paraguay River Basin (or Plate River Basin) has already brought rapid change in land use and production activities in this region, and is expected to cause dramatic social and environmental impacts over the coming decades. In this region, two countries currently stand out. Brazil is the World leader in the bio-ethanol sector, and Argentina shows an explosive growth of its biofuel feedstock production, thereby making the case of this country highly relevant to other countries of the region where biofuel development is increasingly being contemplated. Almost 80% of Brazil’s total sugarcane production and one-third of world ethanol supply are concentrated in the Paraná River Basin, mainly in the State of São Paulo. According to a prognosis, production in the State of São Paulo alone will increase by 50% in the coming 5 years, thus requiring an area of around one fourth of the State territory. Following the same trend, the Argentinean part of the Paraná Basin is targeted for concentrating most of the expansion of biofuels. Plantations of sugarcane for sugar production already exist in the Northern part of the country and incentives for biofuel-related development are being set in motion. The national target for the coming 15 years is to add (at least) 5% of corn or sugar-cane-based bio-ethanol to gasoline. NGOs active in the Plate River Basin region based themselves on their knowledge of the region and the repercussions of territorial expansion of agribusiness in the past to address the impacts of the biofuel production and trade chain and formulate strategies to influence public policies and decision-making (campaigns, mobilization of Society and lobby).However, biofuel growth in this region makes it necessary for stakeholders to obtain access to, and share, highly technical knowledge on a wide range of issues such as: the characteristics of feedstocks; net energy requirements; greenhouse gas contributions; and probable effects of the biofuel chain on natural resources and socioeconomic factors. Dealing with such knowledge requires capacities that often go beyond the current capacity of most NGOs of the region. At the same time, key research institutions and groups have been producing reams of information on biofuels, but have limited capacities for mobilization, designing policy proposals and influencing decision-making processes. Effective action in favour of a more sustainable biofuel chain therefore requires that the NGO community and the scientific community ally themselves with the objective of sifting through the enormous amount of technical data being produced, identify the biases and gaps associated with the generation of such knowledge, and fine tune offer and demand of knowledge. The goal of the proposed project is to promote exchange and information sharing between research institutions and NGOs to enhance their capacity to jointly contribute to the development of policy recommendations and intervention strategies aimed at decreasing the detrimental impact of biofuel expansion in Latin America. Specific objectives are: Organisation of a knowledge group composed of key researchers and NGO representatives to jointly address biofuel-related knowledge needs and gaps in the Plate River Basin Set the framework for regular interchange among knowledge group members, assuring better access to information, and optimising its use in analysis and policy-oriented work The core of the project will be a Knowledge & Learning workshop bringing representatives of the NGO and research communities together to build on their respective strengths and define ways to jointly design, contribute to, and channel policy improvement proposals. The main outcome of the workshop would be a plan for continued development of, and action by a knowledge network through which civil society actors and analysts team up to learn from each other in order to identify and achieve common goals.