NGOs’solution: ABN
African Biodiversity Network wants moratorium on biofuels. A united appeal from the ABN and 5 northern and southern NGOs: an immediate end to biofuels. Why? Because they are not the answer but one of the causes of global warming
The African Biodiversity Network (ABN) has joined forces with the Rainforest Movement, Watch Indonesia!, Walhi Jambi, Grupo de Reflexion Rural and Biofuelwatch to give voice to their Bali wish list: an immediate international moratorium on bio-fuel developments and exports.
Biofuels, hailed by many as the green gold that is to free the world from fossil fuels, are causing a twenty-first century scramble for Africa that is leaving the earth barren, the people hungry and landless. The rest of the world isn’t left unscathed, as demonstrate the testimonies of Latin American and Indonesian activists in a press conference held at Bali on 6th December. Deforestation, rural exodus, soil deterioration, loss of biodiversity, high agrochemical inputs, water pollution, disastrous effects on human and animal health, and direct human right abuses are listed as some of the direct impacts of the huge monocultures needed to feed the growing biofuel market.
Far from a solution to climate change, claim the NGOs, biofuels are accelerating global warming by stealing land from rainforests and other natural ecosystems which are essential for regulating the global climate. Further, biofuels are driving people in the south to poverty. The group says that biofuel estates are being established on lands incorrectly regarded as marginal or degraded but which actually belong to pastoral and indigenous communities, land that communities rely on for their livelihoods and food sovereignty.
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