The Lubin Files

New FAO publication: “The Impact of Climate Change and Bioenergy on Nutrition”

The recent FAO/Springer publication “The Impact of Climate Change and Bioenergy on Nutrition” examines the effects of climate change, bioenergy, and the economic crises of 2007-2010 on food and nutrition security. It shows how climate changes could affect food production through declines in crop yields, aquatic populations and forest productivity, proliferation of invasive insect and plant species and increases in desertification, soil salinization and water stress.

Similarly the pathways by which increased demands for biofuels can negatively affect food and nutrition security including by reducing physical availability and economic access to food and by increasing the risk of disease are described. Biofuel production may reduce women’s control of resources, which may in turn reduce the quality of household diets.

The book provides a unique collection of nutrition statistics, climate change projections, biofuel scenarios and food security information and offers explicit examples of adaptation and mitigation strategies for climate change and biofuel production within the agricultural sector.

Biofuel for your average man or woman.

Have you considered converting your car into a biofuel, money-saving automobile?  As fuel prices continue to rise across the world, more and more motorists are seeking ways to get around at lower cost.  It may require a bit of work on your part, but there are instructions and kits available to help you in your quest.  A recent article entitled "The Fat of the Land" in the Economist will give you some more information on creating your own biofuel from discarded restaurant oil as well as pointers on preparing your diesel engine to burn the "home-brewed" fuel. 

Could algae crops help fight hunger?

An interesting article in Scientific American discusses several uses for algae, one being its use as a food source.  Where others have searched for an algae that can produce large quantities with few inputs, no one has found it yet.  The scientist in this article discusses genetically modifying algae in order to create the algae desired and achieve the necessary outputs.  His hope is to create algae that might provide not only food, but also fuel while also helping to combat Carbon Dioxide content in the atmosphere.  See more on the subject here.

Biofuels as discussed at the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) meetings.

The Committee on World Food Security meetings held last week called for action against food price volatility.  Biofuel price policies in the US and Brazil were targeted as one contributing factor to the rise of food prices worldwide.  The FAO had noted in 2008 that the continued expansion of biofuel production might affect food prices as shown in this newsroom report.  You can read more about biofuel and how it can affect food prices in the Price volatility and food security report assembled by a panel of experts in July of 2011.

Conference and Council Verbatim Records

We recently had a research request from a patron who was trying to find historical verbatim records of FAO Conference.

You can find FAO Conference verbatim records here.
And here is a link for FAO Council verbatim records.

For more information about FAO Conference and Council and other governing bodies, Visit FAO's Governing and Statutory Bodies website.

New Biofuels Journal

The library has received a trial subscription to Biofuels, a new journal that features review articles, original research, commentaries, news, research and development spotlights, and interviews with key opinion leaders, with a view to establishing an international community of bioenergy communication.

Articles published in Biofuels cover key areas in the development of bioenergy, such as:

• Sustainable production of annual, perennial and wood feedstocks from agriculture
• Creation of new biomass feedstocks in laboratories
• Biochemical conversion techniques
• Fermentation, anaerobic digestion and enzyme development
• Thermochemical conversion techniques
• Biocatalyst development, gasification and pyrolysis plants
• Bioenergy systems and plant engineering
• Conversion of biomass into heat, electricity and biohydrogen
• Storage and transportation of biomass during manufacture
• Implementation, improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact of first generation biofuels, including ethanol and biodiesel
• New bioenergy sources: algae, genetically engineered fuels, and biochemical carbon dioxide conversion
• Policy, management and communication to establish a global bioenergy market

Please try it out and let us know what you think.

Plethora of full-text documents on major FAO topics

A library patron requested electronically-available FAO documents on the topics of climate change and food security; bioenergy and climate change, and climate adaptation.

Here is our list:

CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY:

The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI) High food prices and Food Security, threats and opportunities. http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0291e/i0291e00.htm

Climate Change & Food Security: a Framework Document.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/k2595e/k2595e00.htm

Climate change and biodiversity for food and agriculture. High Level Conference on World Food Security - Background Paper HLC/08/BAK/3. FAO.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/013/ai784e.pdf

FAO. 2008. Climate change, water and food security. High Level Conference on World Food Security - Background Paper HLC/08/BAK/2.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/013/ai783e.pdf

BIOENERGY:

The State of Food and Agriculture 2008. Biofuels: prospects, risks and opportunities: http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0100e/i0100e00.htm

High Level Conference on World Food Security:the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy. 
List of documents: http://www.fao.org/foodclimate/conference/doclist/en/?no_cache=1

FAO/IFPRI. 2008. Impact of Climate Change and Bioenergy on Nutrition. http://www.fao.org/ag/AGN/agns/files/HLC2_Food_Safety_Bioenergy_Climate_Change.pdf

The market and food security implications of the development of biofuel production. Background document for the FAO Committee on Commodity Problems 67th session. Rome, 20-22 April 2009.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/016/k4477e.pdf

Bioenergy, food security and sustainability - towards an international framework. Background document for the High-level Conference on World Food Security: the challenges of climate change and bionergy. Rome, 3-5 June 2008. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/foodclimate/HLCdocs/HLC08-inf-3-E.pdf

Climate change, bioenergy and food security: options for decision-makers identified by expert meetings Background document for the High-level Conference on World Food Security: the challenges of climate change and bionergy. Rome, 3-5 June 2008.
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/foodclimate/HLCdocs/HLC08-inf-5-E.pdf

CLIMATE ADAPTATION:

Low Greenhouse Gas Agriculture. Mitigation and adaptation potential of sustainable farming systems.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/ai781e/ai781e00.pdf

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in the food and agriculture sector. High Level Conference on World Food Security - Background Paper HLC/08/BAK/1. FAO.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/013/ai782e.pdf

Climate change adaptation and mitigation: challenges and opportunities in the food sector. High Level Conference on World Food Security - Information Paper HLC/08/INF/2.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/013/k2545e.pdf

Dryland Pastoral Systems and Climate Change: Implications and Opportunities for Mitigation and Adaptation.
http://www.fao.org/climatechange/media/15537/0/0/

Terrestrial essential climatic variables for climate change monitoring, mitigation and adaptation. Rome, FAO.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1430e/a1430e.pdf

Climate change and disaster risk management. High Level Conference on World Food Security - Background Paper HLC/08/BAK/5. FAO.
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/013/ai786e.pdf

Biofuel from algae

The Economist reports that Exxon is investing $300m into an effort to create biofuels from genetically engineered algae.  The company working on this project is Synthetic Genomics.  They are not alone in targeting algae as an energy source, as previously blogged in the Lubin Files.

State of Food and Agriculture 2008

The State of Food and Agriculture 2008 was released today, October 7. This year's SOFA is dedicated to Biofuels. It explores the impact of biofuels on global agricultural markets, the environment, and on world food security.

SOFA 2008 examines the underlying causes of the global food crisis and provides forecasts for future commodity market developments. It also analyses principal sources of uncertainty in world agricultural markets and the implications of alternative strategies to counteract the surge in the price of agricultural commodities.

You can download it here.

Bill Gates and biofuel

Bill Gates, along with the Rockefeller Foundation and Wellcome Trust, invest in a California start-up company that will investigate using algae for the production of biofuel.

Article from Scientific American.