NATO Parliamentary Assembly

[TheSpoon]

Ran foul of some barriers erected for The NATO Parliamentary Assembly's 55th Annual Session in Edinburgh this morning and did a web search to see what they're discussing:

_http://www.nato-pa.int/default.asp?SHORTCUT=1879

The UK Parliament will host the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's 55th Annual Session from Friday 13 to Tuesday 17 November 2009, bringing together in Edinburgh , United Kingdom , some 340 parliamentarians from the 28 NATO member countries from North America and Europe as well as delegates from partner countries and observers to discuss security issues of common concern to all countries.

This piqued my interest:
_http://www.nato-pa.int/default.Asp?CAT2=0&CAT1=0&CAT0=0&SHORTCUT=1940

Meetings not indicated in the press programme are not open to the press.

So they're not telling the press what they're not inviting them to, although I don't imagine anything terribly secretive will be happening at such a high profile, large attendance event.

I thought I might find something interesting in their Committee Reports, and indeed there's more here than I can read through in a morning:
_http://www.nato-pa.int/Default.asp?SHORTCUT=1765

If the link doesn't work, the path is
> Home > Document Library > Committee Reports > 2009 Annual Session

178 ESC 09 E - INFORMATION DOCUMENT - THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS AND ITS ...
169 CDS 09 E - The Growing Threat of Piracy to Regional and Global Security
170 CDSDG 09 E - An Overview of Security Challenges and Mechanisms of Co-Op ...
171 CDS 09 E - The Republic of Moldova: Internal Challenges; Prospects for ...
172 DSC 09 E - Afghanistan: A Turning Point?
173 DSCFC 09 E - NATO and Cyber Defence
174 DSCTC 09 E - Protecting To Project: NATO’s Territorial Defence and Det ...
175 ESC 09 E - The Global Financial and Commercial Crisis: Implications for ...
176 ESCTER 09 E - Food Price Shocks and their Implications for Food Securit ...
177 ESCEW 09 E - Central Asian Energy Production: Potential Contributions t ...
179 PC 09 E - Resetting Relations with Russia
180 PCNP 09 E - Georgia and NATO
181 PCTR 09 E - Pakistan: A Test of Transatlantic Co-operation
182 STC 09 E - Combating WMD Proliferation
183 STCEES 09 E - The Nuclear Renaissance
184 STC 09 E - Climate Change and Global Security

Dipping into the food price document:

40. Increasing demand for biofuels was clearly a factor in last year’s food-price increases, although the exact relationship is a matter of some dispute. Biofuels, which are derived from organic matter, are frequently characterized as potential alternatives to fossil-based fuels like petrol. The leading biofuels today are ethanol (produced predominantly from sugarcane and maize), and biodiesel (produced using rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil). Brazil, the US, and the European Union are the world’s most important producers of biofuel. In 2007, approximately 23% of USA coarse grain production was used to produce ethanol, as was about 54% of Brazil ’s sugar cane crop. Roughly 47% of vegetable oil production in the EU has been dedicated to biodiesel production in recent years (FAO The State of Food and Agriculture). The US government heavily subsidises corn cultivation for ethanol, and is paying out roughly 50 cents a gallon for the nine billion gallons of ethanol that the country produces annually. Europe, too, pays out large subsidies for biofuels – €3.7 billion in 2006 alone, according to one study (Kutas et al.). In spite of these huge subsidies, ethanol currently makes up only 4.5% of the gasoline fuel market in the United States, and only 3% of the biodiesel fuel market in the EU (FAO The State of Food and Agriculture).
<snip>
46. It is also essential to recognize that energy yield per hectare is highest for feed stocks grown in tropical conditions. Brazil’s tropical climate makes it possible to grow sugarcane for ethanol production in a very efficient fashion. Brazil ’s biofuel industry began three decades ago and now produces 40% of its transport fuel. According to some reports, Brazil’s sugarcane ethanol costs three times less to produce and has an energy balance eight to ten times more potent than northern hemisphere corn-based ethanol (Biopact). Yet, Brazil is shut out from the US and EU markets by tariffs on ethanol imports which currently stand at $0.54 per gallon in the US and up to €0.19 per litre in the EU (Preto). Brazil and a number of other countries from the southern hemisphere have decried the US and EU import restriction on ethanol for years, and Brazil has pushed hard for the matter to be resolved in a World Trade Organisation arbitration panel (Reuters 02/09/2008). Both the EU and the US have blocked Brazil ’s efforts to have biofuels listed among the green products exempted from tariffs in the Doha Round. Absurdly, carbon-based fuels typically do not face tariffs at national borders. The EU has its own biofuel trade dispute with the US. Citing unfair subsidies given to biodiesel producers in the US, as well as the dumping of that biodiesel into European markets, the European Commission imposed both anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on imports of US biodiesel in March of this year. The duties will seriously harm biodiesel imports from the US into Europe (CNN Money, 12/03/2009). Such protectionism, at least in the case of Brazil, restricts the trade of genuinely efficient and environmentally friendly fuels and denies both EU and US consumers the price and environmental benefits that this efficient fuel source offers. This is an utterly absurd approach to a product, the benefit of which is supposed to be global in nature. It suggests that biofuel policies are much more about larding favoured interest groups with cash than producing clean and sustainable fuel.

Was surprised to see language like "utterly absurd" in a government report. The author obviously feels very strongly about what they're writing.

Extensive bibliography too - possible useful jumping off point.