jdhoch
27th June 2012, 05:54
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But even before the directive had been approved, NGOs around the world had already pointed out a series (http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/12/at-the-nexus-of-agrofuels-land-grabs-and-hunger-ndash-part-2/) of problems (http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/12/at-the-nexus-of-agrofuels-land-grabs-and-hunger-ndash-part-1/) with agrofuels.
The British NGO ActionAid calculated (http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/driving_to_destruction.pdf) that reaching Europe’s target would require converting up to 69,000 square kilometres of natural ecosystems into cropland, an area larger than Belgium and the Netherlands combined. Furthermore, because of the conversion of forests, grasslands and peat lands into crop fields for biofuel, total net greenhouse gas emissions would amount to 56 million tonnes of extra CO2 per year, the equivalent of an extra 12 to 26 million cars on Europe’s roads by 2020.
ActionAid estimated that the extra biofuels entering the EU market would be, on average, 81 to 167 percent worse for the climate than fossil fuels.
NGOs also found that the EU’s planned increase in biofuel use would push oilseed, maize and sugar prices up. According to a study (http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/Homepage-News-Highlights/OFID_IIASAPam_38_bio.pdf) by the Austrian International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the 10 percent target would put an extra 140 million people at risk of hunger, with the poor urban populations, subsistence farmers and the landless in developing countries particularly vulnerable.
Finally, the Rome-based International Land Coalition recently stated (http://www.landcoalition.org/sites/default/files/publication/1205/ILC%20GSR%20report_ENG.pdf) that the demand for biofuels is driving more than 50 percent of large-scale land acquisitions globally.
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MORE…
http://www.systemiccapital.com/biofuels-and-hunger-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/
But even before the directive had been approved, NGOs around the world had already pointed out a series (http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/12/at-the-nexus-of-agrofuels-land-grabs-and-hunger-ndash-part-2/) of problems (http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/12/at-the-nexus-of-agrofuels-land-grabs-and-hunger-ndash-part-1/) with agrofuels.
The British NGO ActionAid calculated (http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/driving_to_destruction.pdf) that reaching Europe’s target would require converting up to 69,000 square kilometres of natural ecosystems into cropland, an area larger than Belgium and the Netherlands combined. Furthermore, because of the conversion of forests, grasslands and peat lands into crop fields for biofuel, total net greenhouse gas emissions would amount to 56 million tonnes of extra CO2 per year, the equivalent of an extra 12 to 26 million cars on Europe’s roads by 2020.
ActionAid estimated that the extra biofuels entering the EU market would be, on average, 81 to 167 percent worse for the climate than fossil fuels.
NGOs also found that the EU’s planned increase in biofuel use would push oilseed, maize and sugar prices up. According to a study (http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/Homepage-News-Highlights/OFID_IIASAPam_38_bio.pdf) by the Austrian International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the 10 percent target would put an extra 140 million people at risk of hunger, with the poor urban populations, subsistence farmers and the landless in developing countries particularly vulnerable.
Finally, the Rome-based International Land Coalition recently stated (http://www.landcoalition.org/sites/default/files/publication/1205/ILC%20GSR%20report_ENG.pdf) that the demand for biofuels is driving more than 50 percent of large-scale land acquisitions globally.
…
MORE…
http://www.systemiccapital.com/biofuels-and-hunger-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/