November 1, 2007

World's poorest bear the cost of biofuel production

The EU's proposal to mandate 10 percent of all transport fuel to be sourced from biofuels by 2020 will hurt some of the world's poorest people, charity organization Oxfam said in a briefing Thursday (November 1, 2007).

Oxfam warned that although the biofuels industry could create jobs and markets for small farmers and cheap energy in developing countries, this was outweighed by the potential negative social and human impact caused by the clearance of land for the planting of biofuels.

"It is unacceptable that poor people in developing countries should bear the cost of questionable attempts to cut emissions in Europe," said Robert Bailey from Oxfam.

To achieve the 10 percent goal, the E.U. will have to import biofuels made from crops including sugar cane and palm oil from developing countries.

The report suggests countries such as Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Tanzania and Malaysia, which are eager to gain exposure to the biofuel market opportunity, could see poor people forced from their land, destroy their livelihoods, lead to the exploitation of workers and hurt the availability and affordability of food.