Callum on slash and burn farming, energy subsidies, ways to tackle the issues of high food and fuel prices.

Local Solutions for Climate Change, Rising Energy & Food Prices

In our previous articles we looked at the causes and local effects of rising energy & food prices and climate change. In this article we will look at some solutions that may help Indonesia contribute to solving these dangerous global trends.

Solving Climate Change:

Climate change is a global phenomenon; as such any solutions will have to be based on the participation of all countries both in the developed and developing world. While many would argue that the developed countries created the problem it must also be understand that large developing countries like China, India, Brazil and Indonesia are by themselves becoming major greenhouse gas emitters. The developed countries are in a better position to fund new technologies that will help mankind become better stewards of this planet, but any attempt to solve this problem without the participation of the developing world will be doomed to failure owing to their rapid industrialization.

Stop Slash and Burn Farming

Not only is this very damaging to Indonesia’s reputation with her neighbors Singapore and Malaysia who resent choking on the air pollution, but it by far Indonesia’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. There are 2 primary sources; the first is the subsistence farmers who let their fields go fallow every 3 or 4 years to stop the soil from completely degrading. After the field recovers and is ready to be cultivated again the farmer will cut down all the small trees and bushes and set them a light. After the fire has stripped the field of all plant life the farmer will plant his crop of dry-land rice, cassava or corn. Farmers use this method because they have not been taught better methods. Simply trying to ban the practice will not work; the farmer must be given incentives to use better land management practices. These can include:

• Crop rotation that will mitigate the necessity to have the field lay fallow.
• Paying farmers for the biomass from the fallow fields that can be either composted to create natural fertilizer of burned in an efficient biomass power plant.
• Using the waste to produce biogas for the farmers own cooking needs.

All of these are cost effective solutions that will benefit the farmer as well as the planet.

The second source of haze is from palm plantations. They use fire because it is a very cheap way to clear land. This group will only be deterred by rigid enforcement of the law. First offences should be dealt with by delivering a financial penalty many times higher than the cost they would have to pay if they cleared land in a less environmentally destructive way. Second offences should be dealt with by expropriation of the property.

Stop Subsidizing Fuel

There is perhaps nothing that illustrates irresponsible behavior or lack of commitment to solving these problems than some countries insistence on continuing to sell motor fuels at below the cost of production. When it should be clear to every government on this planet that climate change presents as great a threat to humanity as any we have ever faced, subsidizing petroleum is the epitome of short sighted stupidity. Not only does it insulate the user from the cost of their damaging activity but it encourages wasteful use of valuable resources and prevents any meaningful attempts to introduce less damaging solutions.

Why would anyone in Indonesia want to buy a hybrid, fuel cell or electric automobile when the government provides subsidized fuel? None of the new technologies to make more efficient vehicles will ever reach Indonesia as long as this persists. With many of the developed countries are now studying the introduction of carbon taxes on their domestic industry you can be sure that countries that insist on subsidizing hydrocarbons will see their exports met with punitive tariffs that reflect the environmental damage that these policies encourage.

Solving High Food Prices:

In the past year, the world has witnessed the unintended effects of diverting food crops like corn and palm oil to make biofuel: In part because of competition from the hot biofuels market, food prices are skyrocketing and food stocks vanishing. Rain forest is being cut down to grow more “green” fuel.

As such problems have emerged, it has become almost a mantra among investors and politicians that newer “second-generation” biofuels – made from nonfood crops like reeds and wild grasses – would provide green energy, without taking food off the table.

Second-generation biofuel plantations growing Jatropha, a genus of succulents, have sprung up all over Africa. Jatropha, the darling of the second-generation biofuel community is being cultivated widely in East Africa and promoted by entrepreneurs and, most prominently, the Clinton Foundation.

Ethanol Production

Jatropha is easy to grow in tropical climates and does not require the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides. It is an ideal alternative to palm oil and sugar. It has the additional benefit of being the second lowest in terms of the amount of fossil fuel input as a percentage of energy output and the highest in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per kilometer traveled by replacing fossil fuels in conventional vehicles over the full production cycle of the biofuel.

Bio Diesel Production

Solving High Energy Prices:

Indonesia is very well placed when it comes to fossil fuel energy resources. Up until a few years ago Indonesia was a net oil producer. It is also blessed with abundant natural gas reserves all well as coal deposits. The area where it is deficient in fully utilising the energy resources is in the necessary energy infrastructure.

Most of the natural gas reserves are located some distance from the main population centers in Java. If they could be connected by pipelines it would solve most of Indonesia’s energy problems. With 3 trillion cubic meters of proven reserves and annual production of 66.7 billion cubic meters, of which half is exported as LNG, Indonesia has enough to reserves to last 45 years at current production levels. If all the automobiles in Indonesia where converted to run on natural gas instead of Benzine it would only shorten the production life to 40 years.

Concerted efforts should be made to create the necessary energy infrastructure to bring the natural gas to the consumer. It is by far the best solution for Indonesia energy problems. The gas could also be used to produce electricity and make up the 10,000 MW electricity shortfall in Java and Bali. The government must do whatever is necessary to encourage the private sector to meet this challenge. This would be a much better use of public funds, to solve Indonesia long term energy needs, than wasting it on a policy of subsidized Benezine.

These problems though daunting are not insurmountable, but they will require political leadership to make them happen. The question that every Indonesian should be asking themselves in the run up to next years elections is do any of the politicians have what it takes to meet these challenges.