Jatropha Curcas: Greening the Philippines
Every country is trying to address the global warming issue.
Just last week, The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Talk of the Town Section featured the Clinton climate initiative. It is reported that 16 cities namely on 6 continents: Bangkok, Berlin, Chicago, Houston, Johannesburg, Karachi, London, Melbourne, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York, Rome, Sao Paolo, Seoul, Tokyo and Toronto have forged to address the problem of climate change. This project is named as the Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program. The William J. Clinton Foundation with partnership with global banks are going to finance the refurbishing of old building like the replacement of the lighting, cooling and heating systems with energy efficient networks, through granting of loans – making buildings efficient.
Even artists have joined in the crusade. Actress Julia Roberts bought a car, which runs on biodiesel and Singer Sheryl Crow was reported to have “toured the US on a biodiesel-powered bus to raise awareness about climate change.”
The Philippines, following the trend, has been rated as one of the countries with the highest global warming awareness.
Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been also trying to address this problem since she assumed presidency in 2001; through Memorandum Circular 55, directing all offices of the government – including government owned and controlled corporations – to incorporate the use of 1% by volume Coco-Methyl Ester (CME) in their diesel requirements.
In 2006, at the State Visit of the Indian President, His Excellency A.P.J. Abdul Kalam shared with President Macapagal-Arroyo the wonders of Jatropha. She then instructed former PMS head Secretary Renato S. Velasco to spearhead this endeavor.
Barely a year old in the task, Secretary Velasco (now head of the PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corporation) was able to put up a world conference on biofuels feedstock conference. This conference was well attended by foreign players and movers of bio-fuels experts. President Macapagal-Arroyo mandates PAFC in the massive development of Jatropha in the Philippines as the biodiesel fuel for the future.
