A Queensland study has revealed that a growing demand for ethanol biofuel could increase sugarcane farmland in Brazil by 5 million hectares.
University of Queensland School of Earth and Environmental Sciences researcher Milton Aurelio Uba de Andrade Junior says that future biofuel demand would directly impact land use, with predictions of a twofold increase in demand of ethanol by 2030.
The sugarcane land is likely to expand primarily into pasturelands, with little effect on native rainforests.
Strong economic and population growth and rising gas costs are also factors in the increased demand.
Image: Crop Life International
