Agrofuels are being promoted as a cheap, low carbon alternative to fossil fuel

dependence, but we are not deceived

Agrofuels still contribute to climate change.
Land use change (and not only unhampered fossil fuel use) is one of the major causes of anthropogenic climate
change. In agrofuel production, direct land use change refers to the purposive clearing of land to make way for the
cultivation of agrofuel crops, while indirect land use change pertains to additional land cleared for the crops edged
out by agrofuel production.

Agrofuels cause hunger.
In addition to being a false solution to climate change, agrofuels drive hunger by switching land from
growing food to growing fuel. This also leads to spikes in food prices. The amount of food crops consumed
as fuel by G8 countries annually could have fed more than 441 million people for a year.
1


UN experts on food and agriculture have concluded that the rise in prices largely reflects the difficulty
that supply has had in keeping up with demand, and because the rise in biofuels has greatly increased the
scope and rate of that rise in demand, it has played a predominant role in driving up prices.
2


Agrofuels drive land grabs.
To grow the produce to feed the demand for agrofuels, companies from the US and the EU particularly,
are buying up large amounts of land from small-hold farmers in the South. In sub-Saharan Africa six million
hectares of land 38 times the size of London are now under the control of European companies
planning to make money from Europes biofuel policies.
3
These policies that drive demand for agrofuels
also drive small scale farmers off their land.

Agrofuels spur deforestation.
Plantation expansion for agrofuels is having devastating impacts on local communities and existing forests.
For example, vast areas of Indonesias forests are crucial for providing food (through gathering, growing
and hunting) for around 40 million people in indigenous and forest-dependent communities. EU policies
converting these forests to agrofuels threaten food sovereignty and increase the risk of food crises.
4


1
ActionAid, Fuelling hunger: new data reinforces why the UK must tackle damaging biofuels policies at the G8 and the EU
2
HLPE, 2013. Biofuels and Food Security. V0 Draft.www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/discussions/biofuels-v0
3
ActionAid, Fuelling hunger: new data reinforces why the UK must tackle damaging biofuels policies at the G8 and the EU
4
Addressing the Impacts of the EUs Agrofuels Policies on Indonesia. 2013 Briefing paper by Down To Earth, 11.11.11,
Friends of the Earth Europe, Watch Indonesia, Sawit Watch, Walhi, Misereor.

When the effects of land-use change are included corn-based ethanol production results in 93%
more carbon emissions compared with petroleum over a 30-year period.
It takes nearly 30 percent more fossil fuel energy to produce enough corn-based ethanol to replace
one liter of gasoline than if that liter of gasoline was simply burned.
N2O (nitrous oxide) from agriculture has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2, and is
an important pollutant from use of high doses of nitrogen fertilizers for large-scale, monocrop
agricultural production of corn and other industrial crops.
Of petroleum-based herbicides and insecticides used in agriculture - in the U.S., on average, 6.2 kg
of herbicides and 2.8 kg of insecticides are used to produce one hectare of corn. These chemicals
are usually petroleum-based, and their production process is highly carbon-intensive.
Ethanol refining is a highly energy-intensive process, requiring on average 392 kWh of electricity,
and 2.5 million kcal of steam to produce 1,000 liters of corn-based ethanol, often drawing on non-
renewable energy sources.

And were fighting back

[my suggestion is that we just put
photos of agrofuel resistance by all
partners . here are some of them]










http://farmlandgrab.org/uploads/images/ph
otos/3011/original_gd5094751an-indian-
landless-fa-6865.jpg?1336653632

http://www.h-alter.org/vijesti/ekologija/spekulanti-na-
trzisu-hrane

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/08/06/stop-deforestation.html


http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1111-greenpeace.html