Agrofuel expansion destroys Colombian communities and biodiversity

Since our previous email alert last year, Colombia’s government has continued to promote agrofuel expansion. Plantation expansion for agrofuels remains a major threat to the lives, livelihoods and the environment of Afro-Colombian and other peasant communities in the department of Chocó, Colombia. This is one of the most biodiverse regions worldwide, with large areas of rainforest now facing destruction. Communities, rainforests and other biodiverse ecosystems are under threat from palm oil and sugar cane expansion for agrofuels in other parts of Colombia, too, for example around Tumaco, near the border with Ecuador, in Santander and in Magdalena. (Start: 06.05.2008)

New report shows EU biofuel policy likely to cause worldwide environmental destruction

The EU’s biofuel policy is likely to cause large-scale environmental harm across the world, according to a new report published today by BirdLife International. The report is coming out ahead of revised proposals for sustainability standards in European legislation which remain disappointingly weak.

The report presents real life cases, from across the world, where the production of biofuel feed stocks is leading to the clearing of natural habitats. It examines the potential for future damage by analysing these case studies against the “sustainability standards” proposed by the European Commission, which are supposed only to allow “sustainable biofuels” to be allowed into the EU market.

Help to Prevent an Environmental Disaster in Brazil
No new industrial port in Ilhéus

The Brazilian government is planning to sacrifice a unique nature conservation area along the coast of Bahia for an industrial zone and a deep water port. Iron ore, soya and sugar ethanol are to be exported from the port. This would lead to large-scale environmental destruction inland. Please help to stop the project. (Start: 21.04.2008)

Please sign petition against new EU agrofuel targets and incentives

Please sign a petition against new EU agrofuel targets and incentives and for an agrofuel moratorium. Right now, politicians are debating new legislation which, in its current form, would lead to far more destructive agrofuel investment. Only a moratorium can stop deforestation, human rights abuses and displacement of local communities, accelerated climate change, loss of food security and food sovereignty and biodiversity losses linked to agrofuel monocultures. (Start: 25.03.2008)

Indonesia: Farmers suffer from booming palm oil

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 4th January 2008

The Indonesian Farmers’ Union criticized the government Wednesday for
mismanagement in the food crop sector, highlighting the massive
displacement of farmers by the expansion of oil palm plantations.

No to the agrofuel craze!

In the process of gathering material from colleagues and social movements around the world, we have discovered that the stampede into agrofuels is causing enormous environmental and social damage, much more than we realised earlier. Precious ecosystems are being destroyed and hundreds of thousands of indigenous and peasant communities are being thrown off their land. (GRAIN Press release)

http://www.grain.org/agrofuels/

Rejection of 3th Round Table on Responsible Soy

On April 23-24 many companies involved in the large scale production and trade of soy will be meeting in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. Peasant movements and social and ecological groups have published a statement to expose that those companies are not the right ones to talk about so called ‘responsible soy’. They are the core of the problem and not part of the solution. You can join this Statemen by sending an Email to: stopRTRS@gmail.com , please with copy to info@regenwald.org

Wall Street Journal exposes FSC policy chaos

http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2007/10/30/Wall_Street_Journal

Groups Concerned about Indigenous, Environmental Impacts of HECO Plans to Import Palm Oil

(Honolulu, Hawai'i) On Monday, Governor Lingle will announce the list of bills that under consideration for veto. `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition and KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance call for the veto of a bill for a $59 million bond issue in support of the HECO/Blue Earth proposed mega-"biodiesel" plant. Despite testifying to the legislature that the plant would not utilize imported palm oil in an effort to obtain the bond package, project proponents are now admitting that their operations will be based on imported palm oil.

CALL ON THE EU TO ABANDON 10% BIOFUEL TARGET

Ypioca attempts to intimidate and silence social movements and journalists

Professor Jeovah Meireles of the Geography Department of the Federal University of Ceara (UFC) and the journalist Daniel Fonseca have been called by the justice system to respond to questions related to the fact that they divulged information, in the public domain, which was contrary to the business’s interests of Ypioca Agroindustria1[1].

Exporting the FSC 'model' to biofuels?

An article about the new Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels
published by FSC Watch (http://www.fsc-watch.org/).