Agrofuels have been presented as the solution to the climate crisis and as a "clean" alternative to fossil fuels. But in reality they are neither "green" nor environmentally friendly, no matter how international financial institutions (such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, among others) and transnational corporations would like to promote them.
The Green Economy
The Green Economy is a tactic used to “clean up” the image of corporations rather than address corporate capture and capitalism as the true drivers of deforestation. False solutions promoted under the Green Economy include certification, sustainable forest management, ecosystem services, REDD+, the bioeconomy, nature-based climate solutions, and zero net deforestation. Rather than stopping it, these “solutions” support corporate-driven destruction that is causing a deep social and ecological crisis.
Other information
29 October 2008
Publications
15 October 2008
Plantations are monocultures, created from seemingly endless rows of identical trees. They suck the water out of nearby streams and ponds and lower the water table, leaving little or no water for people living near the plantations. They deplete soils, pollute the environment with agrotoxics and eradicate biodiverse local ecosystems. Activists in Brazil call them the green desert because of the way they destroy local people's livelihoods and environments.
Other information
28 August 2008
Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star. -Confucius
Introduction
Other information
3 August 2008
"My house and goats are dead, my house burned to the ground," recounts a Ugandan farmer at the start of this downloadable film. "My coffee and banana trees were chopped down, and new trees were planted in their place."
"We should bring developing countries on board using a variety of means," counters a Dutch businessman and carbon trader.
Other information
27 May 2008
The expansion of large-scale plantations --either crops or trees-- for the production of liquid agrofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel is increasing in many Southern countries –with harmful impacts on people and the environment.
Now, even the FAO admits the risks. A recently published FAO report looks into agrofuel production and their gendered impacts, explaining that it may increase the marginalization of women in rural areas, threatening their livelihoods.
Other information
27 May 2008
Biofuels – bio-diesel oil extracted from plants to replace high cost fossil fuels – have become controversial as the biofuel plantations are taking away lands mainly used, in particular for food production, by local communities.
In Burma, the ruling military junta has embarked on a massive expansion of biofuel plantations through forced confiscation of lands as well as arrests, fines, and beatings of farmers.
Bulletin articles
27 May 2008
In Africa, agrofuel initiatives are proliferating in many countries including Zambia, where jatropha has been selected as the main crop to produce biodiesel while sugar cane, sweet sorghum and cassava are chosen for bioethanol.
Other information
30 April 2008
Certifying Soy Expansion, GM Soy and Agrofuels
ASEED Europe, Base Investigaciones Sociales, Corporate Europe Observatory, Grupo de Reflexión Rural, Rain Forest Action Network - April 2008
Other information
17 April 2008
Press Release - 17 April 2008, International Day of Peasant's Struggle.
Asunción, Paraguay
Bulletin articles
3 January 2008
Since 2003, New Zealand's Scion has been carrying out a field trial planting of genetically engineered (GE) Radiata pine and Norway spruce trees at its research facilities in Rotorua. The GE trees contain reporter genes, herbicide resistance genes and genes which according to Scion are "thought to affect floral development". The trial is planned to last 22 years, although none of the trees will be left in the ground for more than 10 years.
Declarations
10 December 2007
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP 13 Bali, Indonesia, December 2007
Governments meeting in Bali, Indonesia for the 13th Conference of the Parties/3rd Meeting of the Parties to the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 3-14 December 2007, need to recognise that this may be our last opportunity to stop runaway climate change and that with 18-20% of annual carbon emissions being caused by deforestation, protecting our forests is a key part of this.