Policies and instruments affecting water use for bioenergy production

Moraes, Márcia Maria Guedes Alcoforado de; Ringler, Claudia; Cai, Ximing

doi:10.1002/bbb.306

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The most water-intensive aspect of biofuel production is growing the feedstock (Moraes et al, 2011). The amount of water used may appear minor at the global level but water requirements for biofuel production must be viewed in the context of local water resources, especially when irrigation water is required.…”

Section: Primary Energy Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling global water use for the 21st century: the Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) initiative and its approaches

et al. 2016

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Abstract. To sustain growing food demand and increasing standard of living, global water use increased by nearly 6 times during the last 100 years, and continues to grow. As water demands get closer and closer to the water availability in many regions, each drop of water becomes increasingly valuable and water must be managed more efficiently and intensively. However, soaring water use worsens water scarcity conditions already prevalent in semi-arid and arid regions, increasing uncertainty for sustainable food production and economic development. Planning for future development and investments requires that we prepare water projections for the future. However, estimations are complicated because the future of the world's waters will be influenced by a combination of environmental, social, economic, and political factors, and there is only limited knowledge and data available about freshwater resources and how they are being used. The Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) initiative coordinates its work with other ongoing scenario efforts for the sake of establishing a consistent set of new global water scenarios based on the shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) and the representative concentration pathways (RCPs). The WFaS "fasttrack" assessment uses three global water models, namely H08, PCR-GLOBWB, and WaterGAP. This study assesses the state of the art for estimating and projecting water use regionally and globally in a consistent manner. It provides an overview of different approaches, the uncertainty, strengths and weaknesses of the various estimation methods, types of management and policy decisions for which the current estimation methods are useful. We also discuss additional information most needed to be able to improve water use estimates and be able to assess a greater range of management options across the water-energy-climate nexus.

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Section: Primary Energy Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling global water use for the 21st century: the Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) initiative and its approaches

et al. 2016

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“…Governments could furthermore create direct incentives for rainfed bioenergy production through taxes and subsidies. South Africa has for example already decided to stop the support for bioenergy crops under irrigation (Moraes et al, 2011).…”

Section: Policy Implications and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade‐offs between land and water requirements for large‐scale bioenergy production

et al. 2014

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Bioenergy is expected to play an important role in the future energy mix as it can substitute fossil fuels and contribute to climate change mitigation. However, large-scale bioenergy cultivation may put substantial pressure on land and water resources. While irrigated bioenergy production can reduce the pressure on land due to higher yields, associated irrigation water requirements may lead to degradation of freshwater ecosystems and to conflicts with other potential users. In this article, we investigate the trade-offs between land and water requirements of large-scale bioenergy production. To this end, we adopt an exogenous demand trajectory for bioenergy from dedicated energy crops, targeted at limiting greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector to 1100 Gt carbon dioxide equivalent until 2095. We then use the spatially explicit global land-and water-use allocation model MAgPIE to project the implications of this bioenergy target for global land and water resources. We find that producing 300 EJ yr À1 of bioenergy in 2095 from dedicated bioenergy crops is likely to double agricultural water withdrawals if no explicit water protection policies are implemented. Since current human water withdrawals are dominated by agriculture and already lead to ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, such a doubling will pose a severe threat to freshwater ecosystems. If irrigated bioenergy production is prohibited to prevent negative impacts of bioenergy cultivation on water resources, bioenergy land requirements for meeting a 300 EJ yr À1 bioenergy target increase substantially (+ 41%) -mainly at the expense of pasture areas and tropical forests. Thus, avoiding negative environmental impacts of large-scale bioenergy production will require policies that balance associated water and land requirements.

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“…Ramos (2011) worked on four probable future scenarios, simulating water demand from the Poechos system for different crops, and showed that expanding the cultivation of sugarcane would affect water availability in the Chira-Piura regulated water system, leading to a decline in water availability. Other studies similarly demonstrated biofuels impacts on water and the environment (Delucchi 2010;Elcock 2010;Gerbens-Leenes et al 2009;Huffaker 2010;Moraes et al 2011;Perrone and Hornberger 2014). Nonetheless, the central government systematically overlooked these studies in favor of bioethanol production, thus aggravating the situation of the Chira Basin.…”

Section: Biofuels Investment and Water Demand In Chiramentioning

confidence: 85%

Between Water Abundance and Scarcity: Discourses, Biofuels, and Power in Piura, Peru

Crovetto¹

2016

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In 2006, transnational ethanol corporations arrived in Chira, a semi-arid zone located in the Piura region of northern Peru. Large expanses of land were used to produce sugarcane for ethanol, which triggered local concern over the pressure this would mean on the regional water balance. From political ecology, I examine how the state and a corporation produced discourses on the idea of water abundance in the Chira Basin in order to secure water rights, which increased the risk of water scarcity for small communities, pastoralists and farmers in the region. In doing so, I call attention to the discursive strategies aimed to facilitate processes of dispossession under a technical ethos that reinforce capital accumulation. Finally, I argue that water abundance discourses contributed to produce a "waterscape" that not only produced unsustainable water use but also reinforced social inequalities. Resumen: En el año 2006 varias compañías transnacionales interesadas en producir etanol llegaron al valle del Chira, ubicado en la región de Piura al norte de Perú. Adquirieron grandes extensiones de tierra en esta zona semi-árida para cultivar caña de azúcar, lo que preocupó a los usuarios locales debido a la presión que ello implicaría sobre el balance hídrico. Desde la ecología política, en este artículo analizo cómo el Estado y una compañía crearon discursos que proyectaban la idea de abundancia de agua en la cuenca del Chira para asegurar sus derechos de agua. Muestro cómo los derechos de agua que fueron asignados a esta compañía con base en la estrategia discursiva de la abundancia de agua incrementaron el riesgo de escasez de agua para las comunidades, pastores y los agricultores de la región. Finalmente, sostengo que estos discursos contribuyeron a producir un paisaje acuático (waterscape) que no sólo generó un uso insostenible del agua sino que también reforzó las desigualdades sociales.

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Policies and instruments affecting water use for bioenergy production

Abstract: Conference PaperIFPRI5EPTDNon-P

Cited by 23 publications

References 49 publications

Modeling global water use for the 21st century: the Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) initiative and its approaches

Modeling global water use for the 21st century: the Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) initiative and its approaches

Trade‐offs between land and water requirements for large‐scale bioenergy production

Between Water Abundance and Scarcity: Discourses, Biofuels, and Power in Piura, Peru

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