EU-Brazil Summit: EU must not support ecologically damaging agro-fuels projects in Brazil
Commenting on the announcement of the European Investment Bank to provide loans of over 37 million Euro to EU companies to mainly establish plant fuel projects in Brazil, Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, Vice-President of the Agriculture Committee in the European Parliament, today said:
"We urge EU leaders and the European Investment Bank to refrain from investing in Brazilian monocultures for the production of agro-fuels (also falsely called "bio"-fuels). The agreements planned between the EU and Brazil at this week's EU-Brazil summit in Lisbon would further destroy ecologically sensitive areas like the Amazonian rainforest and contribute to more food insecurity in Brazil and around the world.
"There is clear evidence that the rapid expansion of plant fuels produced from soy beans, sugar cane and other energy crops, supported by the Brazilian government, has made large scale farming practices even more unsustainable. This has added to the problems of soil erosion in southern Brazil and the expelling of small farmers and indigenous people from their land. Also, the loss of enormous quantities of water for plant fuel production makes the strategy of replacing mineral fuels with energy crops highly questionable.
"Furthermore, the concept of fuel monocultures questions global food security, especially in times when climate change may lead to repeated harvest losses as in Australia. World grain reserves are currently at their lowest level in 40 years."
Editor's note:
Global production of energy crops is doubling every few years, and 17 countries have so far committed themselves to growing the crops on a large-scale basis with Brazil to the forefront. Last year more than a third of the entire US maize crop went into ethanol for fuel, a 48% increase on 2005. In Mexico the price for corn has tripled in a year and caused serious problems especially for the poorer population accessing enough food. Instead of investing in an extremely unsustainable production scheme, the EU should help Brazil in reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency. In this sector real progress and development is expected.
