{"id":50362562,"date":"2023-01-27T18:44:24","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T18:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogochino.net\/?p=62562"},"modified":"2023-09-15T15:48:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T14:48:21","slug":"362547-bolivias-biodiesel-play-economic-sense-or-another-amazon-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/362547-bolivias-biodiesel-play-economic-sense-or-another-amazon-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolivia\u2019s biodiesel play: economic sense or another Amazon threat?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In September 2020, during Luis Arce\u2019s campaign to be president of Bolivia, he promised to build <a href=\"https:\/\/plurinacional.info\/2020\/09\/23\/luis-arce-mas-promete-plantas-de-biodiesel-en-santa-cruz-y-cochabamba\/\">two biodiesel production plants<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although the proposal centred around creating jobs and introducing a circular economy to Bolivia, Luis Arce also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mhe.gob.bo\/2021\/12\/03\/gobierno-impulsa-la-transformacion-energetica-para-sustituir-importaciones-con-biocombustibles\/\">assured<\/a> the electorate that the energy transformation would reduce fuel imports.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, Bolivia has spent an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.la-razon.com\/economia\/2022\/03\/13\/la-importacion-de-diesel-y-gasolina-llego-a-us-6-448-millones-en-cinco-anos\/\">increasing<\/a> amount on such imports, reaching a <a href=\"https:\/\/correodelsur.com\/capitales\/20220201_bolivia-importacion-de-combustibles-alcanza-record-historico.html\">record<\/a> US$2.1 billion in 2021, up from $864 million in 2020. There are still no official figures for 2022, but according to the experts interviewed for this article, the situation has changed little since then.<\/p>\n<p>In September 2022, the president gave the order to start building Bolivia\u2019s first biodiesel plant \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/abi.bo\/index.php\/noticias\/economia\/26968-planta-de-biodiesel-1-se-construira-con-us-40-millones-y-preven-que-inicie-operaciones-en-2023\">Biodi\u00e9sel-1<\/a> \u2013 in the city of Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of months earlier, he <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gacetaoficialdebolivia.gob.bo\/edicions\/view\/1530NEC\">launched<\/a> a programme to promote the cultivation of oil-rich plant species \u2013 oil palm (<em>Elaeis guineensis<\/em>), jatropha (<em>Jatropha curcas<\/em>) and the castor oil plant (<em>Ricinus comunis<\/em>) \u2013&nbsp;as raw material to feed Biodi\u00e9sel-1, Biodi\u00e9sel-2, and a third plant for making diesel from vegetable oil and used cooking oil.<\/p>\n<p>The president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abi.bo\/index.php\/noticias\/politica\/36-notas\/noticias\/economia\/24599-gobierno-crea-el-programa-de-produccion-de-especies-oleiferas-con-bs-402-7-millones-de-presupuesto\">said<\/a> the five-year programme seeks to \u201cimplement technological conditions for the production of oil-containing species, strengthening the capacities of local producers.\u201d<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class='cdo-shortcode--image'><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_62600\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62600\" style=\"width: 1280px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62600 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Luis-Arce-In-Event_Prensa-Asamblea-Legislativa-Plurinacional-Bolivia_52580759779.jpg\" alt=\"Luis Arce speaking at an event, with the YPFB logo behind him.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"872\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62600\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Luis Arce Catacora at an event to mark the 86th anniversary of the state-owned Bolivian Fiscal Oilfields (Image: Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/194792615@N03\/52580759779\/in\/photostream\/\">Flickr<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\">CC BY<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/div><\/span>The state will support producers by providing seeds, technical advice and whatever is necessary \u2013 apart from land \u2013 to start growing the crops. Then the state-owned oil company Bolivian Fiscal Oilfields (YPFB) will buy the fruits. \u201cWith this programme, the national government not only wants to guarantee production, but also to guarantee purchase,\u201d Javier Mamani Quispe, coordinator of the programme, told Di\u00e1logo Chino.<\/p>\n<p>Oil palm, also known as the African palm, is native to West Africa. It produces red fruit which can be <a href=\"https:\/\/es.mongabay.com\/2020\/07\/cinco-claves-palma-africana-america-latina\/\">processed into biodiesel<\/a>. Meanwhile, <a href=\"http:\/\/scielo.sld.cu\/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&amp;pid=S0864-03942008000300001\">jatropha<\/a> is native to Central America and from its seeds an oil similar to that of oil palm can be extracted. The castor oil plant is useful for the same purpose. Seeds of the three species have been <a href=\"https:\/\/abi.bo\/index.php\/reportajes\/36-notas\/noticias\/economia\/27923-biodiesel-bolivia-apunta-a-importar-plantas-aceiteras-de-tres-paises-y-tiene-identificadas-zonas-de-potencial-produccion\">imported from Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With the introduction of these species, the government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreader.com\/bolivia\/los-tiempos\/20181114\/281513637182960\">stance<\/a> expressed in 2007 by then president Evo Morales \u2013&nbsp;who like Arce is from the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party \u2013&nbsp;that crops should be used first and foremost for feeding the population, rather than for cars, is a thing of the past.<\/p>\n<p>According to Javier Mamani Quispe, the first biodiesel plant will be operational by the end of 2023. There won\u2019t be any oil palm yet, as it takes between four and five years to grow, so jatropha and castor oil will be used to generate 1,500 barrels of biofuel per day, Mamani Quispe said. In parallel, construction will begin on two other plants: Biodi\u00e9sel-2, and a plant for producing renewable diesel (HVO), a fuel obtained by processing vegetable oil or used cooking oil.<\/p>\n<p>The three plants will allow the country to replace \u201cbetween 43 and 45% of diesel and petrol imports,\u201d Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro told <a href=\"https:\/\/abi.bo\/index.php\/reportajes\/36-notas\/noticias\/economia\/24785-plantas-de-biodiesel-permitiran-sustituir-hasta-el-45-de-las-importaciones-de-carburantes\">France24 television<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n<p>In the region, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina are <a href=\"https:\/\/h2businessnews.com\/conoce-la-actualidad-de-los-biocombustibles-en-latinoamerica\/\">leading<\/a> the way in biofuel production, while <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/es\/clima-y-energia-es\/55157-paraguay-quiere-construir-la-mayor-planta-de-biocombustibles-de-america-del-sur\/\">Paraguay<\/a> is also preparing to jump on the bandwagon. If it achieves its goals, Bolivia will join the list and plans to invest <a href=\"https:\/\/abi.bo\/index.php\/noticias\/gobierno\/36-notas\/noticias\/economia\/26938-presidente-dara-la-orden-de-proceder-a-la-fabricacion-de-equipos-para-la-planta-de-biodiesel\">US$387.5 million<\/a> in the construction of the three factories, and $58.6 million in the production of the raw material.<\/p>\n<h2>Biodiesel in Bolivia: A cost\u2013benefit dilemma<\/h2>\n<p>However, Indigenous, farming and scientific communities have concerns.<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class='cdo-shortcode--image'><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_62612\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62612\" style=\"width: 1440px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62612 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Vista-Aerea-Cultivo-Rio-Grande-Amazonia-Bolivia_Rkive_Alamy_PBGME5-1440x960-1.jpg\" alt=\"Aerial view of cultivated area along the Rio Grande River in the Amazon basin in Bolivia.\" width=\"1440\" height=\"960\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Intensive cultivation along the Rio Grande in the Amazon Basin, roughly 43 km east of the city of Santa Cruz (Image: Alamy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/div><\/span>\u201cNaming this product \u2018biodiesel\u2019 is a tremendous misrepresentation,\u201d Vincent Vos, a Dutch biologist specialising in the Amazon, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lostiempos.com\/actualidad\/economia\/20220728\/expertos-cultivo-palma-africana-es-agrocombustible-esta-prohibido\">told<\/a> the Cochabamba daily paper <em>Los Tiempos<\/em>. \u201cIn reality, we are talking about \u2018agrofuels\u2019.\u201d Vos believes the sustainable-sounding \u201cbio\u201d masks the reality that the fuel will come from crops grown on an industrial scale. \u201cThe law prohibits Bolivia from producing fuel from agricultural products: neither from soya nor maize, nor oil palm,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The norm he refers to is article 24 of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.planificacion.gob.bo\/uploads\/marco-legal\/Ley%20N%C2%B0%20300%20MARCO%20DE%20LA%20MADRE%20TIERRA.pdf\">Framework Law of Mother Earth<\/a>, which in paragraph 11 prohibits \u201cthe production of agrofuels and the commercialisation of agricultural products for their production.\u201d This issue has not been clarified or resolved by officials.<\/p>\n<p>Another concern is deforestation and the expansion of the agricultural frontier by adding three new monocultures to the existing five: soy, sugar cane, sunflower, sesame and maize.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplementing a new species in an ecosystem always has risks,\u201d said Freddy Zenteno, a researcher at the <a href=\"http:\/\/sbb.org.bo\/herbarios\/herbario-nacional-lpb\/\">Bolivian National Herbarium<\/a>. \u201cIn Bolivia, we have around a hundred species of palm trees and [oil palm] is one that has not grown in this environment, so it has to fight against pests and for that it will need agrochemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Vincent Vos, there are alternatives which exist in the country. \u201cIn Pando [an Amazonian province] there is a palm tree called <em>palla<\/em>. There must be at least 100,000 hectares of it, which can produce 2,000 litres of oil per hectare. There is no need to cut down anything, no machinery is needed, and the oil is of better quality than African palm,\u201d he told Di\u00e1logo Chino.<\/p>\n<p>However, Mamani said there are no risks. The plantations will be made \u201cin deforested and exhausted soils\u201d located mainly in the Amazon and the Chaco.<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class='cdo-shortcode--image'><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-62606\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230126_Bolivia_Biomes_EN_V3.png\" alt=\"Map showing the location of the future biodiesel plant in Bolivia, and the Amazon and Gran Chaco.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1518\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/div><\/span>The possible deforestation that could be caused by the introduction of oil palm in Bolivia is also of concern to Indigenous Peoples. Last August, they delivered an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noticiasfides.com\/nacional\/politica\/contiocap-a-marquez-las-leyes-34sirven-para-una-fachada-y-lavada-de-imagen-del-gobierno-34-416823\">open letter<\/a> to the then vice-president-elect of Colombia, Francia M\u00e1rquez, when she visited the country.<\/p>\n<p>In it, they asked her not to believe the hype and warn that the Bolivian government\u2019s biodiesel plans \u201crepresents a threat of further deforestation of the Amazon and other regions of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Miguel Vargas Delgado, executive director of Bolivia\u2019s Centre for Legal Studies and Social Research (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cejis.org\/\">Cejis<\/a>), prioritising these monocultures to guarantee the country\u2019s food or energy security does not generate any possibility of sustainability for the lives of Indigenous communities. \u201cIn any case, it means breaking their social and cultural fabric, their economic systems, and therefore exposing them to greater vulnerability,\u201d he told Di\u00e1logo Chino.<\/p>\n<h2>The precedent: ethanol<\/h2>\n<p>Bolivia started producing biofuel in <a href=\"https:\/\/efeverde.com\/bolivia-etanol-biocombustibles\/\">2018<\/a>, in the form of ethanol. Also known as anhydrous alcohol, it is a gasoline additive produced from sugar cane. In March 2017, the then president Evo Morales <a href=\"https:\/\/anapobolivia.org\/noticias.php?op=1&amp;tipo=2&amp;id=1746\">launched<\/a> a production programme, which is still in force in Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n<p>It envisaged the production of 80 million litres by 2018, and 380 million litres by 2025. In 2021, the government agreed to purchase 110 million litres, and by 2022, it committed to purchase 160 million litres. So far, \u201cit has worked very well,\u201d \u00c1lvaro R\u00edos, former minister of hydrocarbons, told Di\u00e1logo Chino.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_44253\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44253\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/agriculture\/44239-san-juan-la-noria-the-community-abandoned-to-palm-oil-development\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-44253\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Palm-oil-in-Guatemala_photo4924758777933179353-1800x1350-1.jpg\" alt=\"Palm oil in Guatemala\" width=\"350\" height=\"263\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44253\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/agriculture\/44239-san-juan-la-noria-the-community-abandoned-to-palm-oil-development\/\">San Juan La Noria: the community abandoned to palm oil development<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>According to R\u00edos, the state-owned oil company YPFB buys its biofuel from the sugarcane sector, which in turn \u201ctakes charge of the investments necessary for the installation of plants, among other resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the case of biodiesel, it will be different. The state itself will even be in charge of producing the raw material. According to Mamani, three ministries will take charge of the megaproject: the Ministry of Rural Development and Lands will manage the input of oily plants; the Ministry of Economy will be in charge of building the biodiesel plants; and the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, through YPFB, will buy the raw material from producers and work on refining.<\/p>\n<p>In doing so, R\u00edos notes that YPFB is entering the agriculture business. \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, they could have emulated what they\u2019d done with ethanol,\u201d he says. That is, leaving the production of palm and biodiesel to the private sector, so that the state oil company could buy it.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Expectations for production are very high. We have already inaugurated the first oil palm nursery in Bolivia and we are implementing 18 nurseries<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Javier Mamani says that the Arce government is seeking to guarantee the success of its palm crops and the purchase of this raw material. \u201cExpectations for production are very high. We have already inaugurated the first oil palm nursery in Bolivia and we are implementing 18 nurseries that will be planted across 6,000 hectares. The programme is valid for five years and in that time it has to cover an area of 60,000 hectares.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 60,000 hectares, however, will only cover 40% of YPFB\u2019s demand, which is why, according to the official, \u201cwe have to look for strategies. How are we going to cover the remaining 60%? That is where private business comes in, and they have to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, so far, doubts about this new era in Bolivia are growing. Former minister R\u00edos demands efficiency, since \u201cthe country imports 70% of the diesel and 50% of the petrol it consumes, and demand is growing every year.\u201d On the other hand, communities and scientists are calling for their forests to be protected, as deforestation is also <a href=\"https:\/\/ftierra.org\/index.php\/component\/mtree\/attachment\/237\/89\">on the rise<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the arrival of palm oil, large state investment in biofuel production triggers debate on possible impacts on forests and communities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50000026,"featured_media":50362597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[758,50039902],"tags":[506,50040295,50040317],"hashtags":[],"country":[50002592],"class_list":["post-50362562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-forests","tag-amazon","tag-biofuel","tag-farming","country-bolivia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bolivia\u2019s biodiesel play: economic sense or another Amazon threat? | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the arrival of palm oil, large state investment in biofuel production triggers debate in Bolivia on possible impacts on forests and communities\" \/>\n<meta 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