Agrocombustibles en Africa

From: Teresa Anderson <teresa@gaianet.org>
Date: Thu Jun 28, 2007  7:12:12 AM US/Pacific
Subject: [gm free africa] New report: Agrofuels in Africa - the impacts
on land, food and forests

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The African Biodiversity Network's new report "Agrofuels in Africa - 
the impacts on land, food and forests" is now out and available online 
at:

http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/docs/ABN_Agro.pdf

The report looks at case studies in Benin, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, 
as well as trends elsewhere on the continent.  It is clear that big 
companies are looking to convert large areas of Africa's best land over 
to biofuel production, even if this means privatising customary land, 
evicting farmers, raising food prices, competing for water resources, 
and cutting down precious forests and conservation areas.

While much of the talk about biofuels in African countries focuses on 
biofuel strategies to meet domestic energy needs, in reality large 
companies are looking to take advantage of this, to create 
opportunities to produce for export markets.  Analysts note the 
discrepancy between the governments' stated aims of using biofuels to 
bring energy to the rural poor, and the policy of evicting them from 
their lands in order to do so.

Developments on biofuels in Africa (or agrofuels as we call them, in 
order to emphasise that these are agricultural crops grown specifically 
for fuel) are still in the early stages in some countries, and more 
advanced in others.  We hope that this report can create the 
opportunity for deeper discussion in Africa and the world, about the 
damaging and counter-productive effects that large-scale agrofuel 
production may have on Africa's land, food and forests.

Best wishes,

Teresa Anderson