Biodiverse grassland, biofuels and bioliquids

Consultation period: 14/12/2009 – 08/02/2010

The sustainability requirements of the Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources establish that raw materials used for the production of biofuels and bioliquids may not be produced on land that had the status of highly biodiverse grassland in or after January 2008. The objective of the consultation is to seek views on possible approaches to define the criteria and ranges of highly biodiverse grasslands. This will feed into the drafting of a Commission Decision on the establishment of criteria and ranges of highly biodiverse grasslands for the purpose of Directive 2009/28/EC.

via Energy: Public consultation – European commission.

But the problems facing Uganda – and Katine – are almost certain to be exacerbated rather than solved by oil. Last month, the campaigning group PLATFORM published three of the production sharing agreements PSAs the government has spent years keeping a closely guarded secret. The deals point towards a resource extraction programme designed for profit, not development, and contain a series of provisions that undermine any hope of changing course

via Uganda oil contracts give little cause for optimism | Katine | guardian.co.uk.