Securing Energy through Biofuels

Updated: Follow this link to read the most recent article from Haiti Innovation on biofuels [link]. The biggest environmental stories of the last several years have been energy security and climate change. Now, an op-ed in the Miami Herald says that Haiti might be able to supply the Dominican Republic with biofuels while strengthening its own economy and mitigating the increased greenhouse gases that can accompany economic development.

Johanna Mendelson-Forman's op-ed touches on a climate policy area known as 'Sustainable Development Policies and Measures', or SD-PAMs. SD-PAMs are policies that can be instituted by developing nations that allow them to meet their development goals without harming the global climate. Haiti is now uniquely positioned to participate in this rapidly evolving policy field: it has a large agrarian citizenship, a eastern neighbor eager for biofuels, and a consistent mandate from the international community to increase standard-of-living. If Haiti takes advantage of this opportunity, it may be able to strengthen its ravaged economy by helping a neighbor decrease its use of fossil fuels - which can only be good for an island poised to suffer from the adverse effects of climate change.

Click here to see Mendelson-Forman's article in the Miami Herald.

Evan Branosky