Governments
Express Strong Concerns About Biofuels
For Immediate Release - 6 July 2007
Government Experts at
UN Body Expresses Strong Concern About Biofuel Impacts on Biodiversity
Contact:
Simone Lovera, Global Forest Coalition (English, Spanish, French,
Dutch) +31 (0)62.245.7495
Orin Langelle, Global Justice Ecology Project/Global Forest Coalition
(English) +33 (0)66.929.4560
Paris, France--An overwhelming
majority of governments, including Norway, Sweden, Germany and Indonesia
expressed serious concerns about the risks of large-scale production
of biofuels to forests, ecosystems, indigenous peoples and local communities
at a meeting of a UN scientific advisory body on biodiversity in Paris
this week [1]. Several governments called for a precautionary approach
to biofuels.
A large number of NGOs and Indigenous
Peoples Organizations from around the world present at this meeting
also expressed their concerns and called for a profound scientific
assessment of the risks of biofuels and a moratorium on all forms
of financial support to biofuels pending the outcomes of this assessment,
based on the precautionary principle.
"The island where I live,
Marajo island in the Amazon delta, is expected to drown in the coming
30 years due to global warming, but the Brazilian government is only
pushing false solutions", says Edna Maria da Costa e Silva of
the Cooperativa Ecologica das Mulheres Extractivistas do Marajo. "My
government [Brazil] claims they support development, but they do not
support my community in producing sustainable bio-oils for local consumption,
they only support large-scale agrofuel production for urban consumers."
she added.
At the Paris meeting, Brazil blocked
the consensus of countries to develop a process to begin to address
the negative impacts of biofuels, which are already being felt in
numerous locations around the world. At the same time, Brazil's President
Lula is touring Europe to promote biofuels as a green solution to
climate change.
"There is a clear strategy
of the Brazilian government to block any consideration of the social
and environmental impacts of agrofuels, as this may interfere with
their commercial interests", adds Mateus Trevisan of MST, the
Brazilian Landless Workers Movement. Trevisan continued, "They
are only promoting large monocultures and defending the interests
of sugar cane companies and biotechnology corporations like Syngenta,
which has representatives on Brazil's delegation here. This strategy
is not going to benefit the Brazilian people."
A UN report released a few weeks
ago [2] warned that large-scale production of biofuels is already
having devastating impacts on Indigenous Peoples, whose lands are
being targeted for oil palm expansion and the expansion of other monocultures,
triggered by the commodity boom caused by steeply rising demands for
biofuels.
Use of large scale tree monoculture
plantations, including genetically modified trees, are planned for
second generation biofuel production.
"We came here seeking a solution
for the problems that agrofuels are already costing our communities,"
said Marcial Arias from Kuna Yala (Panama), adding "now we are
leaving frustrated seeing how the governments not only are not addressing
our concerns they are promoting even more of these destructive agrofuels
projects on our land."
Joint Release by Global Forest
Coalition, EcoNexus, Global Justice Ecology Project, World Rainforest
Movement, MST-Brazil's Landless Worker Movement, Timberwatch Coalition,
BUND/Friends of the Earth Germany, NABU/BirdLife Germany, Sobrevivencia
/Friends of the Earth Paraguay, STOP GE Campaign North America
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Note to editors:
[1] The Twelfth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technological
and Technical Advice (SBSTTA) to the Un Convention on Biological Diversity
took place in Paris, France, July 2-6, 2007.
[2] The report of the Special rapporteur of the UN Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues "Oil palm and Other Commercial Tree Plantations,
Monocropping and the Impacts on Indigenous peoples' Land Tenure and
Resource Management Systems and Livelihoods", http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/6session.crp6
