Trócaire is urging the public to contact their MEPs in advance a crucial European Parliament vote on biofuels on 10 September.
The EU previously set a target of 10% of European transport fuel to
be derived from biofuels but it is hoped the vote will bring this down
to 5%.
“A policy which initially was seen as an environmentally friendly
alternative to fossil fuels is having a disastrous effect on people in
the developing world. In many cases harmful green house gas emissions
from biofuels are worse than those from fossil fuels,” according to
Joanne McGarry, Trócaire Campaigns Officer.
By 2020, EU biofuels policies could be responsible for increases in
oilseed prices of up to 20%, in vegetable oil prices up to 36%, maize
prices by as much as 22%, sugar prices by a possible 21% and wheat
prices by as much as 13%.
Trócaire has published these *projections as part of its ‘Food Not
Fuel campaign’ which highlights that people are going hungry because
crops are being used to fill petrol tanks instead of feeding families.
Crops like wheat, corn and sugar cane are mixed with petrol and
diesel to fuel cars. The European Commission has recognised that this
biofuel policy is flawed and is proposing a reduction but according to
Trócaire the Committees in the European Parliament have been voting to
weaken the EC’s 5% proposal.
“It’s going to be a close battle so we must let our MEPs know that
this already weak proposal cannot be weakened further,” Joanne McGarry
warned.
In June, almost 1,000 Trócaire supporters lobbied Pat Rabbitte,
Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources, to call for
a ban on the use of all food-based biofuels. He formally raised those
concerns at the Council of Ministers meeting he attended in Luxembourg.
Now the issue is coming to a vote and Trócaire is highlighting the damage that the policy is doing.
Communities are being forced off their land to make way for biofuels.
In March 2011, over 800 indigenous families were evicted off land in
the Polochic Valley region of Guatemala.
These are Mayan families who
for centuries have experienced discrimination and violence by the elite
families who run Guatemala.
In July of this year, a survey of the evicted families revealed they
are still living in terrible conditions two years after that eviction.
94% of families said they have had food shortages on occasions.
Less
than half of households consume three basic meals a day. Less than one
third of the families have land for food cultivation. Families are
suffering restrictions, often imposed by private companies, on access to
water.
Trócaire’s policy paper: Biofuels: Fuelling Poverty and Environmental Degradation
highlights the fact that in less than a single decade, world biofuel
production has increased five times, from less than 20 billion litres a
year in 2001 to over 100 billion litres a year in 2011.
The report explains that policies which drive greater demand for
biofuels create incentives to reallocate resources such as land and
water from food to fuel production.
Production systems have altered in response to policy incentives
within the EU but also beyond the EU through the outsourcing of
food/fuel.
The UNDP’s Africa Human Development Report (2012), drew attention to
how biofuels policies are leading to resources being taken by the
authorities and the rich.
This leads to greater concentration in ownership and alienation for vulnerable groups from traditional means of survival.
The redesignation of food crops as fuel crops has also linked food
prices with oil prices.
Modelling the impact of the EU’s mandates on
food prices suggests that by 2020 EU biofuels policies could be
responsible for increases many basic foodstuffs resulting volatility and
prices which poor people cannot afford.
Trócaire is urging people to contact their MEPs to highlight the
issue and to urge them to support the reduction in biofuel targets.