Argentine Reseachers Scrutinize US-EPA's Indirect Land Use Methodology

The Biofuels Digest website reports that Argentinian Researchers from INTA (Spanish acronym for National Agriculture Institute), analyzed the assumptions of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) indirect land use change models in relation to the Argentinean situation. They made some conclusions, among which are: (1) "Significant errors have been verified in the determination of the original use of lands in the Argentine Republic, as well as the magnitude of the detected changes, and t has been verified that errors may be made in using low resolution images without the adequate support of local experts"; (2) Through the experience in cover classification, the 1-km resolution employed reportedly "generates errors of a magnitude which can only be considered valid in analysis of academic type for the comprehension of the dynamic of change in the different vegetation covers detecting highly degrading actions"; (3) "The errors arising from the assignment made by the EPA on the basis of a classification of low resolution images, without the assistance of local experts, are highly risky for the assignment of land use changes". A copy of the report may be accessed at the URL indicated above.

Related information on the "EPA Lifecycle Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Renewable Fuels": http://www.epa.gov/oms/renewablefuels/420f09024.htm