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Feb 21, 2013 - GRAIN
-▶ LAND GRABBING FOR BIOFUELS MUST STOP
Zainab Kamara is one of several thousand farmers in Sierra Leone whose lands have been taken over by the Swiss company Addax Bioenergy for a 10,000 hectare sugar cane plantation to produce ethanol for export to Europe. "Now I don’t have a farm. Starvation is killing people. We have to buy rice to survive because we don't grow our own now," she says.1
In neighbouring Guinea, peasants are trying to understand how their government could have possibly signed off 700,000 ha of their lands to an Italian company to grow jatropha for biodiesel.2... http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4653-land-grabbing-for-biofuels-must-stop
Mongabay, February 17, 2015
-▶ INDONESIA TO SQUANDER FUEL SAVING ON SUBSIDIES WILL DRIVE DEFORESTATION http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0217-biofuels-subsidy-indonesia.html
Alternet, October 21, 2014
-▶ WILL OUR NATIONAL FORESTS BE SACRIFICED TO THE BIOMASS INDUSTRY? The U.S. Forest Service wants to sell our forests for fuel in the name of wildfire reduction. http://www.alternet.org/environment/will-national-forests-be-sacrificed-biomass-industry
Ecowatch, October 20, 2014
-▶ PUBLIC FORESTS SACRIFICED TO THE BIOMASS INDUSTRY http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/20/national-forests-sacrificed-biomass-industry/
Mongabay, January 27, 2014
▶ NORWEGIAN INSURANCE GIANT BLACKLISTS AND DIVESTS FROM MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL DESTROYING PALM OIL COMPANIES http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0127-storebrand-palm-oil.html
September 1, 2013 The Independent
▶ BIOFUEL PROJECT FUNDED BY UK 'LEAVES AFRICANS WITHOUT FOOD' http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/biofuel-project-funded-by-uk-leaves-africans-without-food-8793617.html
Environmental News Network, September 11, 2014
▶ ILLEGAL LAND CLEARING FOR COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE RESPONSIBLE FOR HALF OF TROPICAL DEFORESTATION. A comprehensive new analysis says that nearly half (49%) of all recent tropical deforestation is the result of illegal clearing for commercial agriculture. The study also finds that the majority of this illegal destruction was driven by overseas demand for agricultural commodities including palm oil, beef, soy, and wood products. In addition to devastating impacts on forest-dependent people and biodiversity, the illegal conversion of tropical forests for commercial agriculture is estimated to produce 1.47 gigatonnes of carbon each year—equivalent to 25% of the EU's annual fossil fuel-based emissions. http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/47822
WATCH
Jan 18,2013 - The Real News
BIO-FUELS, SPECULATION, LAND GRABS = FOOD CRISIS http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7818#.USSEGBnZ03Y
▶ LAND GRABBING AND THE GREAT FOOD/BIOFUEL ROBBERY - A NEW CORPORATE COLONIALISM http://sco.lt/7bBke1
December 6, 2012 - Inter Press Service
▶ AT THE NEXUS OF AGROFUELS, LAND GRABS AND HUNGER - Part 1 http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/12/at-the-nexus-of-agrofuels-land-grabs-and-hunger-ndash-part-1/
SLIDE SHOW :
Scientific American
▶ BIOFUELS LAND GRAB: GUATEMALA'S FARMERS LOSE PLOTS AND PROSPERITY TO 'ENERGY INDEPENDENCE' http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides/p/2567914610/africa-chocolate-bill-gates-monsanto-and-the-genetically-modified-land-grab
FOOD OR FUEL?
RESEARCH SUGGESTS BIOFUELS WILL COST THE EARTH
February 02, 2012 - EurActive
▶ EU CLIMATE CHIEF CALLS FOR 'MUCH CARE' ON BIOFUELS http://www.euractiv.com/climate-environment/eu-climate-chief-calls-care-biof-news-510528
Feb 1, 2013
▶ CROP-BASED BIOFUELS IS UNSUSTAINABLE. GROWING PALM OIL COULD SPEED UP CLIMATE CHANGE , WHILE DEVASTATING BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS http://planetark.org/wen/67793
October 21, 2012 About My Planet
▶ EU LIMITING FOOD CROP INCLUSION IN BIOFUEL GOAL DUE TO CONCERNS http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/eu-limiting-food-crop-inclusion-in-biofuel-goal-due-to-concerns/
April 27, 2012
▶ EPA SAYS PALM-BASED BIOFUELS SHOULD NOT QUALIFY FOR INCLUSION IN RENEWABLE FUELS STANDARD http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life/p/1679460426/epa-says-palm-based-biofuels-should-not-qualify-for-inclusion-in-renewable-fuels-standard
June 17, 2013 Guardian Global Development - John Vidal
▶ LA VIA CAMPESINA, WORLD'S LARGEST POLITICAL MOVEMENT, TO CHALLENGE MULTI-NATIONALS ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY, LAND GRABS AND DEFORESTATION
'"We have no choice but to change the system"
WATCH
BIOFUELS LAND RUSH. WHY POVERTY?
THE UGLY RISE OF MONOCULTURE FARMING AND GLOBALIZED FOOD
▶ BIODIESEL'S BIG COMEBACK http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2013/04/biodiesels_big_comeback.html
May 29, 2013 Inter Press Service:
▶ LAND GRABS AND THE BITTER TASTE OF LIBERIA'S PALM OIL PLANTATIONS: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/05/the-bitter-taste-of-liberias-palm-oil-plantations/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
LAND GRABS
HOW FOREIGN "INVESTMENTS" ARE REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH, LAND AND WATER ACROSS THE GLOBE http://sco.lt/96H2yv
▶ LAND GRABS: THOUSANDS 'FORCIBLY RELOCATED' IN ETHIOPIA says HRW report http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jan/17/ethiopia-relocation-programme-report?CMP=twt_gu
▶ FOR MORE ON FOOD CRISIS AND THE GLOBAL LAND GRAB AT FARMLAND GRAB.ORG http://www.farmlandgrab.org
May 7, 2013 EurActive - The BioFuel Industry Push Back
▶ BIOFUELS INDUSTRY SENT "THREE MAILS AN HOUR" IN ILUC LOBBY OFFENSIVE http://www.euractiv.com/energy/biofuels-industry-sent-mails-hou-news-519531?utm_source=EurActiv%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=95165055de-newsletter_daily_update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bab5f0ea4e-95165055de-245661818
Malaysia Feb. 4, 2013 The Sun Daily
▶ BIOFUELS: BIODIESEL BOOST FOR PALM OIL INDUSTRY - THE CORPORATE RACE FOR PROFITS, DESTROYING FORESTS AND ECOSYSTEMS AS THEY GO http://www.thesundaily.my/news/605492
▶ “SUSTAINABLE” BIOFUELS AND PALM OIL SHOULD NOT DRIVE DEFORESTATION http://sco.lt/7N5vU1
▶ REPLACING NATURAL FOREST SYSTEM WITH GENETICALLY MODIFIED TREES LEAVES BIOLOGICAL DESERTS: MONSANTO GMO TREES COULD DEVASTATE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS http://sco.lt/52lFDN
▶ PALM OIL ECOCIDE -THE DEFORESTATION HOLOCAUST - Fast-Tracking Our Own Extinction http://sco.lt/7BPvuL
WATCH
CARBON AND FOREST ECOCIDE
CAN UN-REDD EVER BECOME GREEN"?
Union Of Concerned Scientists
▶ TOWARD HEALTHY FOOD AND FARMS: OUR AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM HAS LOST IT'S WAY http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/
HOW NOT TO "FEED THE WORLD"
PLANET PALM OIL
The Bait and Switch of Palm Oil Giants
WATCH
REMEMBERING 'GREEN'
AN ORANGUTAN'S JOURNEY
Winner of Best Short Documentary - A 2013 MUST AGENDA http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life/p/3926142290/remembering-green-an-orangutan-s-journey-winner-of-best-short-documentary-a-2013-must-agenda
MORE ON BIOFUELS, LAND GRABBING, DEFORESTATION
http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life?q=biofuel
http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life?q=land+grab
http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life?q=DEFORESTATION
FOOD OR FUEL? THE PROBLEM WITH BIOFUELS, AGROFUELS, BIODIESEL:
No Matter which way you cut the case the idea of biofuels, although glowing, is not "sustainable" and is tied to big profits in commodity trading, agriculture and the devastating global landgrabbing.
Nature requires a balanced, biodiverse ecosystem in order to maintain her balance and support for all life on this planet.
Monoculture crops destroy biodiversity with it's genetically engineered gene-altering technology that requires lashings and lashings of pesticides and chemicals to produce, creating a sterile environment where no life but the crop can survive.
The land grab issue is of deep concern, for once you own the land you can do what you want with it, including redirecting water rights and poisoning the soil (and water). The end result: the local environment, biodiversity and ecosystems (including animal life) is disappeared, leaving a barren rotating, monoculture crop designed for export.
This type of thinking destroys cultures, local communities and our biosphere contributing to climate change, more poverty, higher food prices and fueling the commodity markets for profit and quarterly bottom lines.
So let's rethink what we are doing with the rush for more biofuels.