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NewsWhore
09-20-2007, 07:30 PM
Latin American energy and security policy expert Johanna Mendelson-Forman is in the DR to promote the expanding use of renewable energies. The DR is one of four countries (the others are Haiti, St. Kitts-Nevis and El Salvador) participating in the U.S.-Brazil Biofuels Partnership outreach program. Her visit is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization of American States and the United Nations Development Fund. Mendelson has advocated for a Hispaniola project on bioenergy, saying that it could create significant benefits for peace and security, and lay the foundation for greater cross-border cooperation with Haiti. Mendelson is a senior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.
Under the partnership, the world's two largest ethanol producers are committed to helping less-developed countries in the Western Hemisphere to promote production of biofuels from local crops, and reduce their dependency on fuel oils. The partnership also intends to advance the research in and development of more efficient biofuel technologies and to work toward a greater convergence of biofuel standards around the world.
For starters, the partnership is funding feasibility studies to determine which types of sugarcane and other plants, such as castor bean and jatropha shrubs, are best suited to local conditions and examine other factors such as soil quality, environmental impact and the potential for rural development.
The partnership was based on findings in a report, "A Blueprint for Green Energy in the Americas" prepared for the Inter-American Development Bank.
See www.iadb.org/biofuels/ (http://www.iadb.org/biofuels/) and http://lugar.senate.gov/energy/hearings/pdf/060622/Forman_Testimony.pdf

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