Brazilian officials defend, explain Amazon ethanol production

In Brazil, agricultural officials and biofuel industry representatives explained the proposed expansion of the ethanol industry to portions of the Amazon, saying that already cleared fields would be used for sugarcane production.

At the Clinton Global Initiative, primate scientist Jane Goodall said that crops growing for biofuels is damaging rain forests in Asia, Africa and South America and adding to the emissions blamed for global warming. “We’re cutting down forests now to grow sugarcane and palm oil for biofuels and our forests are being hacked into by so many interests that it makes them more and more important to save now,” Goodall said.

Recently, at the Americas Conference in Miami, former Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Roberto Rodrigues pointed out that sugarcane does not grow effectively in the Amazon region, and that Amazonian rainforest is not being destroyed in Brazil for sugar cane cultivation. “It is an absurdity to suggest otherwise”, Rodrigues said.

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