Denis Camillo dos Santos

17872717

Social impacts of biodiesel fuel

The biodiesel production can provide three social main impacts on society. The first social
impact is the competitiveness for available lands between food and biofuel feedstock production.
Rees (2008) notes that whether the replacement of food production for biodiesel oil seeds or
other biofuel raw materials occur, an increase of food prices could be promoted with a
subsequent scarcity of food. He also states that the possibility of substituting fossil fuels entirely
for biodiesel and other types of biofuel will fail due to the lack of available lands to cultivate
both food and biofuel feedstock simultaneously. For instance, there are developed locates and
jungle areas in Western Europe where could be difficult to make biodiesel fuel in high
proportion due to absence of available lands. However, there are developed countries with free
areas with adequate soil and weather conditions where biodiesel could be produced and as a
consequence bring the evolvement of local economy as noted by Rees (2008). The second social
impact is social inclusion. According to Bart, Palmeri and Cavallaro (2010), social inclusion has
been the main purpose of Brazilian biodiesel production, where family agriculture as well as
poor families from less favored Brazilian regions that cultivate biodiesel feedstock have been
included in biodiesel program as collaborators of biodiesel makers which are encouraged through
fiscal incentives to buy their oil seeds. A further social impact is job creation. Biofuels have been
responsible for creation of labor in Brazilian rural regions where raw materials such as sugar
cane and oil seeds are cultivated as noted by Da Silva (2008), who also states that thousands of
employments have been generated in Brazil by ethanol and biodiesel programs. In the same
view, Kale (2005) supports that in Jatropha India, one unit of manufactured biodiesel requires
from threefold up to sixfold more rigorous work than the same amount of fossil fuel. In addition,
Gunstone (2004) explains that the number of jobs could be increased whether the crushing units
were installed near rural regions where biodiesel feedstock is cultivated and could also facilitate
laborers life by reduction of their deployment from rural to urban regions. As a result, social
inclusion and job creation provided by biofuel crops can reduce poverty of laborers and their
families and bring progress to faraway and distressed areas (Da Silva, 2008). However, the issue
of available lands for biodiesel crops should be evaluated without comprising global food
security.

Denis Camillo dos Santos

17872717

Bibliographic List
Bart, J., Palmeri, N., & Cavallaro, S. (2010). Biodiesel science and technology. Oxford:
Woodhead.
Da Silva, Luiz Incio Lula. (2008). Biofuels are no villain. UN Chronicle, 45(2), 27-30.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/218137819?accountid=10382
Gunstone, F. (2004). Brazilian soybean production. International News on Fats, Oils and
Related Materials: INFORM, 15(12), 764-765. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/223619528?accountid=10382
Kale, V. (2005). Jatropha- india's crop for biodiesel production. International News on Fats, Oils
and Related Materials: INFORM,16(8), 532-533. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/223611003?accountid=10382
Rees, J. (2008). Biofuels setting the record straight. Nutraceutical Business & Technology, 4(3),
42-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/207663025?accountid=10382