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Dubai: Massive production of biofuels is "a crime against humanity" because of its impact on global food prices, a UN official said on Monday on German radio.
In an ironic twist on the global environmental debate, in which the replacement of fossil fuels by alternative sources has been trumpeted almost universally as a worthy cause, the law of unintended consequences seems to have struck once more.
Tensions have grown over the planting of biofuel crops as food prices have rocketed, and riots against poverty and hunger have multiplied worldwide.
It is a dramatic escalation of the current dislocations of the global economy, already beset by international credit crunch and a revival of general inflationary concerns.
UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food Jean Ziegler called on the International Monetary Fund to change its policies, saying agriculture should be subsidised in regions where it ensured the survival of local populations. Ziegler had accused the European Union of agricultural dumping in Africa.
"The EU finances the exports of European agricultural surpluses to Africa ... where they are offered at one half or one third of their [production] price. That completely ruins African agriculture," he charged.
The EU Commission on Monday rejected the claim, vowing to stick to its goals as part of a climate change package. "There is no question for now of suspending the target fixed for biofuels," said Barbara Helfferich, spokeswoman for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. "You can't change a political objective without risking a debate on all the other objectives."
Your comments
I honestly do believe the Western countries that want biofuels are justified in their own right to produce alternative energy. However, they then should have sufficient food stock of their own from their own farmlands to pursue this biofuel development, instead of having to import valuable food crops from other countries like India and Vietnam.
S.D.
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: April 15, 2008, 07:16
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