New Report calls for a biofuel 'reality check'
The rush for 'biofuels' is already causing serious damage, according to a new report by 11 civil society organisations
from around the world.
“Agrofuels – towards a reality check in nine key areas” sets out considerable evidence that the spread of what are more
accurately called 'agrofuels' – liquid fuels produced from biomass grown in large-scale monocultures, mostly in the
global south – is compromising biodiversity and fuelling human rights violations.
The report finds that agrofuels threaten to greatly accelerate climate change through the destruction of ecosystems and
carbon sinks on which we depend for a stable climate. The rush to agrofuels encourages intensive, industrial agriculture
at the expense of sustainable food production.
"Monoculture plantations have been doing serious damage around the world for decades, but agrofuels represent a further
intensification of the process, endangering what remains of global forest cover and climate. They also threaten the food
sovereignty, cultural, human and land rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. The destructive impact of
these agrofuels is already severe, while the pros and cons are being debated and certification initiatives are being
devised. It is likely that by the time any real analysis has been completed, further irreversible damage will have been
done to biodiversity and the climate" says Helena Paul of Econexus.
"Claims are being made that biofuels will mitigate climate change, yet the reality is very different. The rapid
expansion of agrofuel monocultures is speeding up the destruction of peatlands, tropical forests and other ecosystems,
leading to massive greenhouse gas emissions. In a worst case scenario, further deforestation for agrofuels could push
the Amazon forest into rapid die-back, releasing up to 120 billion tonnes of carbon and disrupting rainfall patterns
over much of the northern hemisphere" says Almuth Ernsting of Biofuelwatch.
The authors highlight how agrofuels are being used as a new promotional vehicle for GM technologies, in particular
through the development of 'second generation' crops. Agrofuel expansion also threatens to displace indigenous peoples
from their lands.
"The whole agrofuel process is going far too fast, pushed by corporations and governments before any controls are in
place. Massive investment in infrastructure is already taking place around the world that will set us on a path from
which it will be difficult to escape," says Oscar Reyes of the Transnational Institute.
A call for a moratorium on EU incentives for agrofuels, EU imports of agrofuels and EU agroenergy monocultures was
launched in Brussels last week by the same 11 organisations. It has already attracted the support of over 100
organisations worldwide.
ENDS