Rapport - 31 oktober, 2011
The global bioenergy boom is driven by a surge of interest in biological materials
– or biomass – to produce heat, electricity and fuels. In a world of declining
fossil fuel deposits and rising fuel prices, industries and governments are hastily
switching back to an ancient source of energy: trees. In Canada, forest bioenergy
once referred to a sensible, small-scale and local solution to produce heat and
power by using mill and pulp residues at the plant. This is no longer the case.
Now, the sector is rapidly developing into large-scale, industrial use of natural
forests for energy. This is due to new government biomass extraction policies
and subsidies. Without public hearings, exhaustive science or adequate
environmental standards in place, provincial governments have allocated large
volumes of biomass from publicly owned forests to be burnt, thereby radically
changing the way forests are used in Canada. This is turning to ash sustainable
job opportunities, threatening the greening of the forest sector and the valueadded
product trend that has been emerging in recent years.
Download hier het volledige rapport (in het Engels):
Fuelling a Biomess: why burning trees for energy will harm people, the climate and forests