Visualizing Sustainability: Developing Geospatial Technology to Address Sustainable Biofuel Production: Using Geospatial Technology to Map Potential Biofeedstock Crop Cultivation Zones and Identify Potential Areas of High Biodiversity or Ecosystem Service Value
Jenny Hewson (Conservation International/CI) presented the multi- tiered sustainable biofuels crops projects funded by DOE.
CI is building global and regional scale maps for potential biofuel cultivation. In other words, CI is looking for areas most suitable for biofeedstock cultivation based on climatic and environmental requirements. The biofeedstock crops of the greatest interest are jatropha, eucalyptus, sugarcane, soy, switchgrass, cassava, oil palm. The presentation gives a detail description of such climatic and environmental requirements, along with tables describing necessary conditions for each of the biofeedstock crops mentioned above.
Some of the interesting points mentioned in this presentation:
· Very interesting areas on maps indicating optimal, verging, and non suitable locations for potential biofuel cultivation
· Refinement of climate zones based on soil attribute information
· The issues of deforestation and conversion to i.e. oil palm plantations READ MORE
