Policy Development for Environmental Licensing and Biodiversity Offsets in Latin America

Attempts to meet biodiversity goals through application of the mitigation hierarchy have gained wide traction globally with increased development of public policy, lending standards, and corporate practices. With interest in biodiversity offsets increasing in Latin America, we seek to strengthen the basis for policy development through a review of major environmental licensing policy frameworks in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Here we focused our review on an examination of national level policies to evaluate to which degree current provisions promote positive environmental outcomes. All the surveyed countries have national-level Environmental Impact Assessment laws or regulations that cover the habitats present in their territories. Although most countries enable the use of offsets only Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru explicitly require their implementation. Our review has shown that while advancing quite detailed offset policies, most countries do not seem to have strong requirements regarding impact avoidance. Despite this deficiency most countries have a strong foundation from which to develop policy for biodiversity offsets, but several issues require further guidance, including how best to: (1) ensure conformance with the mitigation hierarchy; (2) identify the most environmentally preferable offsets within a landscape context; (3) determine appropriate mitigation replacement ratios; and (4) ensure appropriate time and effort is given to monitor offset performance.     

The one-person household in Latin America: a brief note.

Drawing from World Fertility Survey and UN Demographic Yearbook data, this short paper considers the prevalence and composition of 1-person households in selected countries of the world, with particular attention to Latin America and the United States. In descending order of prevalence, 1-person households are most prevalent in Western culture group countries, Southern and Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The proportion of these households is in fact growing in both the U.S. and Europe, and is associated with a growing proportion of elderly in the population, and a growing tendency among young adults to leave their parents' homes before marriage. Accordingly, most 1-person households are comprised of those young and never-married, and old and formerly-married. Debate remains over whether this trend is primarily influenced by growing affluence or changing ideas. This pattern contrasts sharply with that observed in Latin America. There, a majority of elderly live in extended households, most youths reside at parents' home until marriage, and many middle-age adults live alone. This latter phenomenon may result from comparatively higher levels of marital disruption and migration. A larger proportion of 1-person householders are therefore outside of the 2 aforementioned majority groups observed in the U.S. In closing, the paper again observes the difference between the 2 patterns, yet fails to speculate upon whether the Latin American pattern will grow to resemble that found in the U.S. and Europe.     

Development of Sustainable Corn Stover Harvest Strategies for Cellulosic Ethanol Production

To prepare for a 2014 launch of commercial scale cellulosic ethanol production from corn/maize (Zea mays L.) stover, POET-DSM near Emmetsburg, IA has been working with farmers, researchers, and equipment dealers through “Project Liberty” on harvest, transportation, and storage logistics of corn stover for the past several years. Our objective was to evaluate seven stover harvest strategies within a 50-ha (125 acres) site on very deep, moderately well to poorly drained Mollisols, developed in calcareous glacial till. The treatments included the following: conventional grain harvest (no stover harvest), grain plus a second-pass rake and bale stover harvest, and single-pass grain plus cob-only biomass, grain plus vegetative material other than grain [(MOG) consisting of cobs, husks, and upper plant parts], grain plus all vegetative material from the ear shank upward (high cut), and all vegetative material above a 10 cm stubble height (low cut), with a John Deere 9750 STS combine, and grain plus direct baling of MOG with an AgCo harvesting system. Average grain yields were 11.4, 10.1, 9.7, and 9.5 Mg ha^?1 for 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. Average stover harvest ranged from 0 to 5.6 Mg ha^?1 and increased N, P, and K removal by an average of 11, 1.6, and 15 kg Mg^?1, respectively. Grain yield in 2009 showed a significant positive response to higher 2008 stover removal rates, but grain yield was not increased in 2010 or 2011 due to prior-year stover harvest. High field losses caused the direct-bale treatment to have significantly lower grain yield in 2011 because the AgCo system could not pick up the severely lodged crop. We conclude that decreases in grain yield across the 4 years were due more to seasonal weather patterns, spatial variability, and not rotating crops than to stover harvest.     

Development and enhancement of agricultural biotechnology in some countries in Latin America

A number of research institutions and both local and international agencles in Latin America are using biotechnology as part of an effort to enhance agricultural productivity. However, it is very much an open question as to whether all of these various organizations can provide the best means of realizing this goal. Latin American countries vary dramatically in their knowledge base and current use of modern biotechnology. Thus, while some countries lack the ability to develop, or possibly even implement, many aspects of modern biotechnology, others are quite advanced in this regard. This review provides a somewhat selective overview of current research in the area of agricultural biotechnology in Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador, with emphasis on how the existing agencies and institutions have responded to the challenge of biotechnology. In addition, general strategies for the development of agricultural biotechnology in these countries are presented and discussed.     

生物制氢——能源、资源、环境与经济可持续发展策略

人类面临能源危机、资源短缺、环境污染的严峻挑战,开发新的能源,合理利用资源并保护生态环境势在必行。氢能具有清洁、高效、可再生的特点,是未来重要的新能源物质。生物制氢技术利用可再生资源,特别是可利用工农业有机废弃物产氢,效率高,能耗低,污染少,成本低,具有巨大的发展潜力。本文简要阐述生物制氢技术及其发展状况,提出我国发展生物制氢技术,实现能源、资源、环境与经济可持续发展的政策建议。