9 hours agoShareSaveGeorgina RannardClimate and science reporter, Belém, BrazilShareSaveCapozoliAnd there are questions around how much they can be scaled up. If açaí production was expanded into many industrial-size plantations, it could start to cause exactly the same problems that people like Damien are trying to solve.But there’s a reason the word “bioeconomy” is plastered all over the UN climate talks.”We need to move from a world dependent on fossil fuels – that is clear,” says Ana Yang, Director of the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House.”And if we don’t have solutions that are bio-based, we will not be able to do that,” she says.This is by no means a magic bullet solution to the problem of how to replace fossil fuels with clean energy and use the land in a way that protects nature.Brazil has also promised a four-fold increase in the use of biofuels, which can be controversial, by 2035. Biofuels such as ethanol are often touted as a replacement for fossil fuels, but they can lead to deforestation as demand increases for the crop to burn to make the fuel.Some are concerned this will lead to the unsustainable extraction of timber or sugarcane to export abroad and burn, and the theft of indigenous peoples’ land.Ms Yang says it’s essential to put safeguards like strong regulation in place.”Not all bio-based transitions are good,” she says.”If they lead to destruction of natural habitat or they don’t have good social practices, then it isn’t solving the original problem.” …
