Near East
Near East countries have a dominant role in global energy supply but fuelwood and charcoal are also a major source of energy in rural households. In fact, about 66 percent of the wood in the Near East is used for fuel, compared with a global average of 40 percent.
The rapid surge in global oil prices, has also led to increased interest in liquid biofuels for internal combustion engines, such as bioethanol and biodiesel.
National policies and programmes on bioenergy contributing to energy security, climate change mitigation, food security, forest and biodiversity conservation, and the domestic supply of industrial round wood, as well as other policies related to land use and conservation, may enter into competition with each other and have to be carefully evaluated against each other.
FAO Activities
Tree and Shrub Bioenergy Crops
In many countries of the region, plantation of tree and shrub species on marginal lands (including deserts and semi-desert areas) combined with the use of domestic waste water, offer the possibility to avoid or at least mitigate such competition.
Some countries are currently considering the possibility to establish large scale plantations of oil tree/shrub species such as Jatropha curcas and Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba), with the objective to produce biodiesel in areas where agriculture is marginal, if not inexistent. In this context, FAO facilitated the organization of a regional “Symposium on oil trees for energy production and valorization of marginal land and water resources in the Near East”.
While for countries like Egypt, encouraging results for oil tree/shrub species have been reported (Ismailia, Luxor, Aswan), studies and trials conducted in Morocco and Tunisia indicated that more research activities still remain to be done before embarking on large scale plantations. In general, for large scale growing of these oil producing exotic tree/shrub species, more investigations are still needed before any political decision is taken: research on allelopathy, including issues pertaining to undesirable proliferation of these species, socio-economic and environmental aspects.
In the region, water scarcity is already a major constraint in agricultural production; therefore a large scale production of biofuels may aggravate water scarcity related problems, unless treated wastewater and alternative crops are used, use of treated wastewater should be encouraged for irrigation purposes.
On the other hand, despite the oil quality of these species, which is of great potential as alternative energy source, on the purely business point of view, private companies like NATOIL (Egypt) reported that other applications such as medicine, cosmetics, food supplements and their use as bio-lubricants would, according to studies carried out, be much more economically profitable.
On policy and legal aspects, it is generally noted that issues such as the fragmentation of land ownership (Yemen) and the absence or weakness of policies and legislations are among the main challenges that governments of the Near East must address as key pre requisites to bioenergy plantations in the region. Broad partnerships also need to be promoted, especially between farmers, private investors, industries and government institutions.
It is the opinion of many Specialists that improvement of propagation methods and productivity of local oil tree species such as Argania spinosa, Ricinus ssp. and other sub-spontaneous species like Moringa oleifera, should be prospected prior to the introduction of exotic species. However, the potential of some halophytes as biofuel sources should not be underestimated. Such plant species can be found in most Near East countries, and complementary research activities may be needed before their development at large scale. It could be profitable to Near East countries to join the International Network on Under-utilized Species, and to strive to develop sub regional and regional projects on the use of halophytes for bioenergy.
Use of agricultural residues for energy
The worldwide interest in the utilization of bio-ethanol has stimulated studies on the cost and efficiency of industrial processes using wide range of farm and by-products of agriculture processing. The economic and environmental benefits derived from recycling and utilization of agriculture residues (AGR) have been considered promising approaches to solve such crucial problems. Due to the magnitude of this subject, a First Regional Expert Consultation Meeting (1st ECM) on the utilization of agricultural residues was organized by FAO-RNE, the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) and Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Egypt (MALR) in Cairo, 6-8 June 2004. Seven countries participated in the consultation: Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Iraq, Tunis and Saudi Arabia as well as private Organizations from Egypt.
A Second Regional Expert Meeting (2nd ECM) was organized in Cairo, Egypt, on 29th Oct. – 1st Nov., 2007 by FAO-RNE in cooperation with the Desert Research Center (DRC), Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) on the theme: "Utilization of agricultural residues with special emphasis on utilization of agricultural residues as biofuel” . The main objectives of the 2nd ECM was to share information among regional experts on recent technological development of conventional and non-conventional utilization of agricultural residues and agro-industrial by – products, to exchange and share experiences and knowledge with special emphasis on energy production, biofuels, biogas.
Twenty four experts participated in the meeting from nine developed and developing countries: USA, France, Egypt, S. Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Syria. The meeting focused on :a) the management and utilization of agricultural residues as renewable raw materials sources for sustainable development and alleviation of environmental pollution, b) encouraging the growing bio-economy to produce fuel, energy, fiber, animal feed, fertilizers, and human food, e.g. mushrooms and c) adaptation/transfer of existing advanced technologies such as bioenergy. Participants stressed the fact that biofuel has been trusted as a fuel for the future and proved to be an environmentally accepted source of energy due to its low impacts on global warming and on air quality. They decided to establish a Regional network on agricultural residues and its potential for bioenergy production.
Recycling used oils
In some Near East countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, used oils can offer interesting opportunities given the huge amount of oil used by restaurants, hotels and canteens.
Additionally, some lubricants can be recycled to produce diesel, and interesting studies have been carried out in this respect by Egyptian Research Institutes and Universities at the request of NATOIL, the Egyptian Natural Oil Company which has been investing in Jojoba plantations over the past 20 years.
Events
Workshop on Management and Utilization of Agriculture Residues in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 28-30. April 2009, Riyadh
For more information
FAO Regional Office for the Near East (FAO-RNE)
Contact:
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Regional Office: FAO-RNE@fao.org