Real World Radio interviewed Adrien Bebb, Friends of the Earth Europe Food and Agriculture campaigner. He said the European Commission is concerned about the impacts that harvesting crops for agrofuel production (biodiesel and ethanol) are having on the development. Scientific studies have shown that agrofuels are not a good alternative to oil in the struggle against climate change.

He also said the non governmental organizations have a key role to play in raising awareness about the consequences of large scale production of crops for agrofuels in the developing countries.

One of the issues that especially concerns Friends of the Earth Europe is land grabbing, which is happening in developing countries in order to plant crops for agrofuel production, to the detriment of food production. Bebb told Real World Radio that there is evidence of this land grabbing mainly to meet the European demand. “We say this is unacceptable and that demand needs to be cut as soon as possible”.

The activist said that with the current demand for agrofuels, Europe will depend more and more on the lands of the developing countries. He warned that deforestation and displacement of rural communities is taking place in those countries to increase the area cultivated with crops to produce agrofuels.

Bebb also referred to the corporations that produce crops for agrofuels. The developing nations’ governments welcome these corporations as an investment opportunity in the agriculture sectors, for the rural communities and the corporations promise they will not compete for land for food production, and that it will be a good instrument to fight poverty. But there is a very little evidence that backs such promises, he regretted.

Friends of the Earth Europe and ActionAid warned last week that the targets to use agrofuels to generate power by the EU are leading to an “incontrollable” land grabbing of small communities in developing countries, something which drives more people further into poverty. Activists from the two organizations carried out an action on June 29 outside the European
Commission building in Brussels to expose the increasing land grabbing.

Friends of the Earth International issued a press release claiming that EU corporations have purchased or requested five million hectares of land in developing countries to harvest crops for agrofuel production. It would require 17.5 million hectares of land in order to reach the 10 per cent target of agrofuels in the transport sector by 2020. Those lands are usually used by the communities for food production.

Photo: http://storyhub.actionaid.org/?c=22...