biofuel protest
In an effort to reduce it’s carbon imprint and met it’s target for lower carbon emissions the UK government is encouraging an increase in the amount of bio-fuels that are used for transport. With the current trends in bio-fuel use the UK will be the single biggest user and importer of bio-fuels in Europe. This bio-fuel though needs to be grown somewhere and the signs are that the developing African countries will be picking up the cost of this new demand.
While the UK may be able to boast about it’s commitment to reducing it’s carbon use all it is doing is passing the cost onto areas that are unable to handle the extra pressure. Land in Kenya for example that used to grow food is now being set aside to grow bio-fuel crops and this pushes the farmers into previously undeveloped areas resulting in natural habits being destroyed and wildlife being killed. As grasslands and forests are converted to agricultural land or directly into bio-fuel plantations so local carbon sinks are lost and regional carbon emissions increase.
Now a coalition of UK charities are calling for a change in tactics to reduce transport related carbon emissions. They are calling for a move away from increasing bio-fuel use and for a movement towards smarter cars that use less fuel or to help boost the use of cars running on clean electricity. The charities, the RSPB, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Action Aid, are claiming that if current bio-fuel policies continue then 1.6 million hectares of wildlife habitat will be lost by 2020 just to meet the UK demands – that an area of land the size of Northern Ireland.
The study undertaken by the group also highlights that in addition to the loss of habitat 13 mega tonnes of extra carbon dioxide will be released in to the atmosphere (equivalent to 6 million extra cars) and food prices in the countries will also be pushed up as land is turned over to more profitable bio-fuel growing. This will hit some of the poorest people in the world as affordable food shortages become more widespread.
RSPB Director of International Operations Tim Stowe said, “We are seeing the impact of European renewable fuel targets first hand with our work in Kenya. The Tana River Delta and the Dakatcha Woodlands are both hugely important areas for wildlife and they are currently at risk from irresponsible and unsustainable bio-fuel plantations.
“Trees will be cleared, wetlands will be under threat and a range of species will be pushed to the brink if these proposals go ahead. The threatened Clarke’s weaver bird will be driven to extinction first, but who knows how many more species will follow. Our message is clear: bio-fuels targets must be scrapped or wildlife will suffer.”
ActionAid’s Biofuels Policy Advisor Tim Rice said: “As well as not being a climate-friendly solution to our energy needs, targets to increase biofuels in the UK could mean millions more poor people are driven into hunger as biofuels push up the price of staple crops such as wheat and maize.
“Biofuel targets effectively give companies a blank cheque to continue grabbing land from the world’s poor to grow biofuels that will fill people’s cars rather than their stomachs.”
A World Bank report in 2008 blamed biofuel production for a major spike in world food prices and this trend is almost certain to continue as the developed world continue to increase it’s dempandnacy on biofuels. In 2008 biofuels are thought to have contributed upto 30% of the food price increase as 125 million tonnes of crops were diverted to biofuel production.
The EU countries have committed to ensuring that 10% of the transport fuel oil is derived from biofuels by 2010. A report from ActionAid earlier this year demonstrated that an area the almost half the size of Italy (17.6 million hectares) will need to be turned over to biofuel plantations to meet that target and two thirds of the land will be in developing nations. “Biofuels are driving a global human tragedy. Local food prices have already risen massively. As biofuel production gains pace, this can only accelerate,” said report author Tim Rice.
“To meet the EU 10% target, the total land area directly required to grow industrial bio-fuels in developing countries could reach 17.5m hectares, over half the size of Italy. Additional land will also be required in developed nations, displacing food and animal feed crops onto land in new areas, often in developing countries,” says the report.
In the United States a push for bioethanol by the government has lead to the biggest land use change of prairie grasslands since the days of the wild west. As the land is turned over to corn growing for ethanol production local widlife is placed under threat because of loss of habitat. Additonally as land is ploughed and reploughed nutirents are no longer locked up in grassland soils and are washed in to local freshwater habitats causing nutrient overload and reduced wildlife.
Around the world land is being set aside to grow bio-fuelsBio-fuel and the bulk of the land is in areas that contain some of the most diverse wildlife and productive habitats. From the African plains to the Amazon rainforest and on to the tropical forests of Asian counries such as Indonesia the new ‘green’ oil rush is underway and a new wave of habitat destruction has begun.
For weeks the damage cvaused by the oil leak at Deep Water Horizon made headline news across the world. But the damage to wildlife, to habitat and to local people caused by the leak is just a speck in the ocean when compared to the damage caused by biofuel plantations.
photo credit: Spencer T
related books:
[amazon_link id="0071600434" target="_blank" ]Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels: A Do-It-Yourself Manual[/amazon_link]
[amazon_link id="1848133839" target="_blank" ]Food versus Fuel: An informed introduction to biofuels[/amazon_link]
[amazon_link id="1848138784" target="_blank" ]Biofuels, Land Grabbing and Food Security in Africa (Africa Now)[/amazon_link]
[amazon_link id="0123850991" target="_blank" ]Biofuels: Alternative Feedstocks and Conversion Processes[/amazon_link]
