Date: 7-8 October 2007

Venue: Renaissance Hotel, Makati, Philippines

Organizers:

• Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)
• Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP)
• International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Intended Audience:
Key stakeholders in energy development (Note: Attendance is by invitation)

Rationale:
With rising concerns over energy security and the environment, governments have been aggressively encouraging biofuel production. Current biofuel technologies use agricultural feedstocks such as grains and sugar for ethanol and rapeseed and palm oil for biodiesel. Brazil mandates biofuel consumption and uses about half its sugar cane to produce ethanol. The United States has tax incentives, subsidies, and consumption mandates for biofuel production. At the current pace of investment, the US is planned to produce 15 billion gallons of biofuel by 2010. This means that between one-quarter and one-half of the current US maize crop will be used as feedstock. Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and many other developed and developing countries also have their own plans to expand the production of ethanol and biodiesel.

Overall Goal and Specific Objectives:
Against this background that is saturated with questions and uncertainties, this workshop is organized with the overall goal of discussing a systematic and research-based impact assessment initiative on biofuel development in Southeast and East Asia. More specifically, the workshop has the following more specific objectives:

1. identify key policy issues and agendas for research,
2. discuss overall framework of the impact assessment proposal,
3. establish the regional and county assessment teams in the selected Southeast and East Asian countries who will undertake the assessment study.

Expected Workshop Outputs:

1. Based on the goal and objectives of the workshop, the following outputs are expected to be achieved: Regional prospects of biofuel initiatives (based primarily on the country prospects), a list of key policy issues, a research agenda
2. A proposal on the “Effects of Emerging Biofuels on Agricultural Development, Food Security, Poverty and the Environment: with Specific Focus on Southeast Asia and China” that incorporates country inputs.
3. Country plans for the impact assessment study.

Workshop Background Paper:
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For further details, please contact Research & Development Department