The Biofuel Invasion  

The IHT has a report on worries emerging about second generation biofuels - this time because of the potential for the feedstock to become invasive species.

"Some of the most commonly recommended species for biofuels production are also major invasive alien species," their paper says, adding that these crops should be studied more before being cultivated for biofuel production in new areas.

Controlling the spread of such plants could prove difficult, the experts said, producing "greater financial losses than gains." As the International Union put it: "Don't let invasive biofuel crops attack your country."

To reach their conclusions, the scientists matched the list of the most popular second-generation biofuels with a list of invasive species and found an alarming degree of overlapping. They said little evaluation of risk had occurred before planting.

"With biofuels, there's always a hurry,' said Geoffrey Howard, an expert on invasive species with the International Union. "Plantations are started by investors - often from the U.S. or Europe - so they are eager to generate biofuels within a couple of years and also, as you might guess, they don't want a negative assessment."

The biofuels industry says the risk that biofuel crops will become weed problems is overstated, noting that proposed crops, while they have some "weedy" potential, are not inevitably invasive.

Second-generation biofuel plantations growing jatropha, a genus of succulents, have sprung up all over Africa. In the United States and Europe, plans abound to grow crops like switch grass and giant reed for energy and fuels.

Now, biologists and botanists are warning that these second-generation biofuels may have serious unintended consequences as well: Most of these newer crops are what scientists label invasive species - weeds - which they say have high potential to escape plantations, overrun adjacent farms and natural land, and create economic and ecological havoc.

At a United Nations meeting in Bonn on Tuesday, scientists from the Global Invasive Species Program, the Nature Conservancy and the International Union for Conservation of Nature as well as other groups issued a warning worthy of Cassandra.