Biofuels Damaging Ecosystems And Biodiversity

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Increased demand for biofuels, along with other agricultural commodities, is resulting in ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, said the U.N. Thursday.

Expansion of the agricultural industry, including the rise in land used for biofuel production, could impact particularly negatively on ecosystems supporting poor populations, according to the U.N.'s Global Environment Outlook 4 report.

With the world population forecast to grow to over 9 billion by 2050, food production will need to increase significantly to meet demand, the report said, noting the conflict between agricultural commodity demands for both food and fuel.

However, the U.N. was not particularly optimistic about any near-term relief to the food versus fuel tension or technology developments within inedible biofuel sources.

"Forest products and the nonfood cellulose component of food crops have a huge potential as an energy source, but technologies are still too costly to compete with fossil fuels at current prices," said the report.