NGO Leads Fight to Conserve and Protect Petroleum Nut
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By Michael A. Bengwayan
Director - PINE TREE
Petroleum nut is believed to be the country's most promising biofuel treasure.
A petroleum-rich tree native to the Philippines and believed to be the country's most promising biofuel treasure is being conserved as it has the potential to provide rural energy and to reduce global warming.
The tree, which is native to only a few provinces in the Philippines and a few other countries in the world, is in danger of falling into the hands of biopirates to enrich only a few profit-oriented multinational companies.
The tree called "petroleum nut" or resin cheesewood and scientifically called Pittosporum resiniferum produces inedible fruits that are octane rich, even richer than the oft-boasted shrub Jatropha curcas of India, which is now being planted in millions of hectares by biodiesel advocates all over the world.
Tree Threatened by Biopirates
To prevent the depletion of the tree from its natural habitat by deforestation or from joining the long list of pirated botanical treasures of the Philippines, a non-profit organization called PINE TREE set up by the New York City-based Echoing Green Foundation, is leading the battle to save the tree and put its ownership right where it belongs - into the hands of the indigenous tribes of the Cordillera region.
PINE TREE is an educational, training, research, and information center on ecology.
"We fear that if we do not put rightful claim to the tree as well as start germplasm protection, collection, and production, biopirates will grab the tree and file patents on the use of its properties," said Richard Botengan, PINE TREE’s program leader, who is based in Canada doing liaison work for the NGO.
The Philippines, one of the most critical "bio-hotspots" in the world is losing its natural richness not only by natural habitat destruction but also by biopirates.
History of Biopiracy
"The project helps reduce global warming, and the local peoples have a sustainable source of income."
The rape of the Philippine forests is nothing new, but the plunder and theft of its rich biodiversity has just begun. Its forest resources, minerals, agricultural and medicinal plants, and indigenous knowledge are being looted by monopoly companies that make millions of dollars patenting and selling plant germplasm, even to those who used to own it.
The first case of foreign biopiracy in the Philippines involved a soil collected and isolated from a cemetery in Iloilo by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, then working for the American company Eli Lilly. An organism in this soil was found to produce an antibiotic, named Ilosone in honor of the province of Iloilo, a well known drug popularly known as erythromycin. Aguilar never received a single cent from his company even after the Philippine government's intervention.
After this first brush with biopirates, more Philippine plants became prey. Two important ingredients of the Filipino diet, namely the "ampalaya" (Mamantia mordica) and "talong" (Solanum melongena), are now the exclusive property of the US National Institute of Health (NIH), the US Army, and the New York University. These parties are conducting intensive studies on the three crops for their potential in curing HIV and thrombosis. The crops are under the US patent numbers US 5484889, JP 65011089, and EP 552257.
Tree to Reduce Global Warming
"Our project trains local peoples to plant petroleum nut and lets them engage in carbon deals."
PINE TREE has planted more than 5,000 seedlings of three endemic petroleum nut varieties from different germplasms that are in its seedbank. These trees will be planted in communal forests to ensure the continuous existence of the tree for years to come.
"Right now, PINE TREE has set up nurseries and is propagating thousands of petroleum nut seeds and cuttings from four endemic varieties. These trees will be planted in ancestral forests of the indigenous peoples to ensure the continuous existence of the tree for years to come," added Botengan.
In 2007, PINE TREE won the prestigious Toyota Environmental Award from the Toyota Motor Company. The award, amounting to USD75,000, is given to a non-profit organization from any country that can present the best program to protect biodiversity while promoting technology for the rural poor. PINE TREE bested more than 500 organizations from 78 countries worldwide.
The award is now being used to preserve, protect, conserve, and mass-produce petroleum nut, not merely because of its oil potential but also as a carbon sink.
Stressing that those to benefit first and directly from the project should be the indigenous peoples, PINE TREE staff is training local villagers to plant, care for, manage, and extract the oil from the tree. The oil will be used for cooking, lighting, heating, running small machines (like water pumps and grinders), and drying.
PINE TREE says conservation of the tree is critical as it is only found in some four to five provinces.
PINE TREE has slated the first training program for villagers on June 4-7, 2008 to benefit 150 farmers, at the National Training Center of the Agricultural Training Institute (NTC-ATI) of the Philippines.
Dobbels Wallang, project assistant of PINE TREE said, "Our project trains local peoples to plant petroleum nut and lets them engage in carbon deals. By this, the project helps reduce global warming, it lessens pressure on forests, which are usually cut for fuel wood, and the local peoples have a sustainable source of income."
Under the Kyoto Protocol, pollution-emitting companies can be taxed higher, fined, or closed. But if these companies are able to finance reforestation and afforestation projects in developing countries that absorb the carbon dioxide they emit, they are allowed to operate because of their corporate responsibility to reduce global warming and to promote countryside development.
Carbon trading deals involving tree planting in developing countries will provide greater benefits than just improving the environment. They could sharply reduce poverty among the rural poor and provide businesses with an inexpensive way to offset their carbon emissions.
Fuel Potential
By chemical analysis, petroleum nut is better than India's Jatropha curcas.
By chemical analysis, petroleum nut is better than India's Jatropha curcas. According to Joseph Gonsalves, consultant of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and author of "An Assessment of the Biofuels Industry in India" published in 2006, Jatropha has a low octane rating of 43. Octane is a hydrocarbon found in petroleum. The Octane rating is how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites.
Chemist Sheryl Lontoc of the Chemistry Department of De La Salle University (DLSU), which is assisting PINE TREE says that their chemical analysis of petroleum nut reveals that it has an octane rating of 54. According to Lontoc, this means the fuel from the tree has a higher potential of running engines, and by all indications, petroleum nut is far better than Jatropha curcas. Fossil fuel has an octane rating of 91.
According to studies made by the Forest Research Institute of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines, petroleum-nut oil contains 46 percent of gasoline-type components such as heptane and dihydroterpene.
A single tree can yield 15 kg of green fruits, which can produce 80 cm3 of oil. The residue, ground up and distilled with steam, can yield 73 cm3 more. Planting the petroleum nut trees would yield 45 tons of fruit or 2,500 gallons of petroleum oil per acre per year.
Earlier studies done by Dr. Pamela Fernandez of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos indicate that a single fruit yields 0.1 to 3.3 ml of oil, averaging about 1.3 ml. In general, the bigger the fruit, the larger the seed and the greater the oil content.
The Petroleum nut fruit has many traditional uses. These include its use as a cure for many conditions (such as skin diseases, common colds, and muscle pains) and to ease stomach pain.
In the Benguet province, the tree is called apisang, abkol, abkel, and langis in the vernacular. It thrives in Mt. Pulis, Ifugao, and in the headwaters of the Agno and Chico River Basins. It is also found in the Bicol provinces, Palawan, Mindoro, Nueva Ecija, and Laguna.
Conservation Critical
PINE TREE says conservation of the tree is critical as it is only found in some four to five provinces. "It is difficult to find the tree nowadays," said Delmar Litilit, the environmental officer of PINE TREE, "If one does, there are often just a few trees in a small forest fragment," he added.
In 2006, China told CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) that the species of petroleum nut it has should be placed on the protected species list because it is rapidly disappearing. PINE TREE believes the Philippine government should do the same sooner rather than later, the tree may go the way of the Dodo.
Sources:
Duke, James A. "Handbook of Energy Crops." (1983). Accessed 26 May 2008.
Gonsalves, Joseph B. "An Assessment of the Biofuels Industry in India." United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva. 18 Oct. 2006. Accessed 26 May 2008.
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Michael A. Bengwayan is the director of PINE TREE, a non-profit organization working on ecological education, training, research and information. He is a Fellow of the Ford Foundation, Echoing Green Foundation, and Reinhard Mohn Foundation. He has a PhD and a master's degree in development studies, environmental science and rural development, respectively.
