> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: June 27, 2007 6:31:13 PM EDT > > New from GRAIN > June 2007 > http://www.grain.org/nfg/?id=502 > > NO TO THE AGROFUELS CRAZE! > > GRAIN has just published a special issue of Seedling which focuses on > biofuels, or as we like to call them, agrofuels - over 30,000 words of > in-depth analysis from around the world. > > In the process of gathering material from colleagues and social > movements around the world, we have discovered that the stampede into > agrofuels is causing enormous environmental and social damage, much > more than we realised earlier. Precious ecosystems are being destroyed > and hundreds of thousands of indigenous and peasant communities are > being thrown off their land. > > Worse lies ahead: the Indian government is committed to planting 14 > million hectares of land with jatropha (an exotic bush from which > biodiesel can be manufactured), the Inter-American Development Bank > says that Brazil has 120 million hectares available for biofuels, and > lobbyists in Europe are speaking of almost 400 million hectares being > available for biofuels in 15 African countries. We are talking about > expropriation on an unprecedented scale. > > We believe that the prefix bio, which comes from the Greek word for > 'life', is entirely inappropriate for such anti-life devastation. So, > following the lead of non-governmental organisations and social > movements in Latin America, we do not talk about biofuels and green > energy. Agrofuels is a much better term, we believe, to express what > is really happening: agribusiness producing fuel from plants as > another commodity to in a wasteful, destructive and unjust global > economy. > > In this special issue of Seedling, launched today, we zoom in on the > situation in different parts of the world: Latin America, Asia and > Africa. We analyse what is happening and talk to the people involved. > The conclusion is pretty much the same across the board: the push for > agrofuels amounts to nothing less than the re-introduction and > re-enforcement of the old colonial plantation economy, redesigned to > function under the rules of the modern neoliberal, globalised world. > Indigenous farming systems, local communities and the biodiversity > they manage have to give way to provide for the increased fuel needs > of the modern world. > > One of the main justifications for the large-scale cultivation of > agrofuels is the need to combat climate change, but the figures make a > mockery of this claim. According to the US government, global energy > consumption is set to increase 71 per cent from 2003 to 2030, and most > of that will come from burning more oil, coal and natural gas. By the > end of this period, all renewable energy (including agrofuels) will > only make up 9 per cent of global energy consumption. It is a > dangerous self-delusion to argue that agrofuels can play a significant > role in combating global warming. > > As is spelt out in this special edition, the wide-scale cultivation of > agrofuels will actually make things worse in many parts of the world, > notably South-east Asia and the Amazon basin where the drying of peat > lands and the felling of tropical forest will release far more carbon > dioxide into the atmosphere than will be saved by using agrofuels. > > One of the main causes of global warming is agro-industrial farming > itself, and the global food system associated with it. Although it is > scarcely ever mentioned, farming is responsible for 14 per cent of > greenhouse gas emissions. Within farming, the largest single cause is > the use of chemical fertilisers, which introduce a huge amount of > nitrogen into the soil, and nitrous oxide into the air. Changing land > use (mainly deforestation and thus linked to the expansion of crop > monoculture) is responsible for another 18 per cent. And a large part > of global transport, which is responsible for a further 14 per cent of > emissions, stems from the way in which the agro-industrial complex > moves large quantities of food from one continent to anther. > > It is abundantly clear that we can only halt climate change by > challenging the absurdity and the waste of the globalised food system > as organised by the transnational corporations. Far from contributing > to the solution, biofuels will only make a bad situation worse. GRAIN > believes it is time to declare unambiguously 'No to the agrofuels > craze!' > > Agrofuels resource page: http://www.grain.org/go/agrofuels > > =========================================================== > > SPECIAL ISSUE OF SEEDLING (JULY 2007) > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?type=68 > Download the entire Seedling issue in PDF format, or you can download > individual articles below. (Note: Articles are only currently > available in PDF format - we hope to have HTML versions of these > articles in mid-July). > > SEEDLING EDITORIAL > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=476 > > INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=477 > An introductory article that, among other things, looks at the > mind-boggling numbers that are being bandied around: the Indian > government is talking of planting 14 million hectares of land with > jatropha; the Inter-American Development Bank says that Brazil has 120 > million hectares that could be cultivated with agrofuel crops; and an > agrofuel lobby is speaking of 379 million hectares being available in > 15 African countries. > > CORPORATE POWER AND THE EXPANSION OF AGRIBUSINESS > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=478 > A detailed look at the way agrofuels is restructuring agribusiness, > with the emergence of new powerful corporate alliances across the > globe. Agrofuels are deepening the alliances between transnational > capital and local landed elites, with profound consequences for > struggles over land and local food production. > > AGROFUELS IN AFRICA > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=481 > Foreign diplomats and businessmen are pouring in to secure reliable > supply chains of agrofuels. Not only the old colonial powers but new > emerging countries, particularly Brazil and China, are scouring the > region for investment deals. There is talk of Southern Africa becoming > 'the Middle East of agrofuels'. A report from Uganda where popular > movements have forced the government to suspend two big agrofuel > projects. > > AGROFUELS IN ASIA > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=479 > In no other region in the world is the absurdity of the frenzied rush > into agrofuels more blatant than in South-east Asia, particularly in > Indonesia and Malaysia. With funding under the terms of the Kyoto > Protocol, peat lands are being destroyed (with the emission of > billions of tonnes of carbon) to plant palms to produce oil for > biodiesel. A report from Indonesia where the population is protesting > over the surge in cooking oil prices because so much palm oil is being > exported. > > AGROFUELS IN LATIN AMERICA > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=482 > A mosaic of interviews with leaders of social and popular movements, > who analyse what is happening on their countries and describe their > strategies for confronting agrofuels. A look at the emergence of > large-scale biodiesel production in Latin America (particularly in the > Amazon, where soya cultivation for the production of soya oil for > biodiesel is intensifying forest destruction). > > FURTHER READING > http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=483 > The volume of recent articles, papers and other materials on agrofuels > can be overwhelming. Below we list some that we found particularly > useful when preparing this Seedling. > > > > ===========================================================
-- "Eaters must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is inescapably an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." Wendell Berry _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
