Agro-fuels

The first International Conference on Renewable Energies held in Bonn in 2004 represented an international breakthrough for the switch from fossil fuels to renewables. However, amidst the general euphoria, critical voices were raised by the participating indigenous peoples’ representatives.

“The industrialised countries must carry to completion obligatory reductions in their high consumption of fossil fuels, which mainly contribute to global warming. Countries must ensure that the promotion of renewable energies does not lead to a wider spread of poverty among Indigenous Peoples, and a new way of colonization of their territories. States promoting renewable energies must respect the rights of the Indigenous Peoples as contained in the ILO Convention 169 of Indigenous Peoples, the international environmental and human rights instruments and the UN Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially the free and prior informed consent.”
(Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples at the International Conference for Renewable Energies, Bonn, 1-4 June 2004).

Within the development of renewable energies, the short and medium-term solution for both the EU and Switzerland is blending of 5-10 per cent of “biofuels” with the standard fuels. The potential for producing (subsidised or tax-exempt) biofuels in European countries is limited however. Demand can only be covered in part through domestic production – so through the cultivation of “energy crops”.

To obtain the amounts of “biofuel” required to fulfil European climate protection aims, demand must be met with “cheap” imports – primarily from Asia and South America. However, the cultivation, processing and export of “biofuels” have a considerable social and ecological impact, for example during the cultivation, harvesting and processing of sugar cane in Brazil.

For emerging nations and developing countries, the export of “biofuels” primarily has enormous economic potential. Europe’s “hunger” for renewable fuels boosts demand for extremely energy-rich plants (such as palm oil and soya), and leads to an increase in the market prices. One consequence is the encroachment of agricultural food cultivation into previously unused areas and the associated strong competition with food production. Pressure on the (primary) rainforests is on the increase and leads to a loss of biological diversity.

For Climate Alliance’s indigenous partners, the social consequences of the spread of monocultures also plays an important role: while the governments emphasise the creation of jobs and economic development as positive factors, the cultivation of energy crops is linked to displacement of the indigenous and Afro-American communities. Plantations represent a threat to the land rights of small-scale farmers and indigenous communities.

Travel report by Johann Kandler of Klimabündnis Österreich on the agro-fuels situation in Brazil (in German).

Please click here for further information on agro-fuels in our brochure (PDF in German).