agrofuels
Friends of the Earth International and member group publications on agrofuels.
featured report
Africa: up for grabs - The scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels
The African continent is increasingly being seen as a source of agricultural land and natural resources for the rest of the world. National governments and private companies are obtaining access to land across the continent to grow crops for food and fuel to meet growing demand from mainly overseas countries. Agrofuels - the large scale production of crops used to produce liquid fuels - are being hailed by some as Africa’s silver bullet. Download the report here
Farming money
Friends of the Earth Europe, January 2012: How European banks, pension funds and insurance companies are increasing global hunger and poverty by speculating on food prices and financing land grabs in poorer countries.
Lords of the Land: Analysis of Land Grabbing in Mozambique
Friends of the Earth Mozambique and the National Farmers Union of Mozambique, March 2011: This report uses case studies to analyse the practice of land grabbing taking place in Mozambique.
jatropha: money doesn't grow on trees - summary
Friends of the Earth International, January 2011: Jatropha is still being touted as a biofuel wonder crop. But there is evidence that jatropha does not deliver on its promises. This new report lists ten reasons why jatropha is neither a profitable nor a sustainable investment.
jatropha: money doesn't grow on trees
Friends of the Earth International, January 2011: Jatropha is still being touted as a biofuel wonder crop. But there is evidence that jatropha does not deliver on its promises. This new report lists ten reasons why jatropha is neither a profitable nor a sustainable investment.
Africa: up for grabs
Friends of the Earth Europe and Africa, August 2010: The African continent is increasingly being seen as a source of agricultural land and natural resources for the rest of the world. National governments and private companies are obtaining access to land across the continent to grow crops for food and fuel to meet growing demand from mainly overseas countries. This report discusses the scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels.
Position paper: plantations are not forests
Friends of the Earth International, July 2010: Tree plantations are not forests. They are a monoculture which causes huge impacts throughout the world. Plantations are a huge number of very rapidly growing single species of trees of the same age that are sawn to occupy considerable land areas, with very high consumption of soil nutrients and water. When they reach their reproductive cycle, they are all cut down to the ground.
Position paper: community rights
Friends of the Earth International, 2008: Community rights are the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples. These are ancestral and collective rights that can contribute to secure their traditional way of life, and are based on their collective management of Nature (keeping balanced relations in the ecosystems through the sustainable use and conservation of its elements, and improving and discovering the uses of biodiversity); based also in the diversity within the different countries and established as an act of justice and fairness in compensation for the oppression they have been subjected to.
the jatropha trap? the realities of farming jatropha in mozambique
Friends of the Earth International, September 2010: In Mozambique, the debate on agrofuels has advanced steadily over the last five years, fueled by industry speculation and demand, grand promises, and foreign interests. Meanwhile the Mozambican government is rushing to create favourable conditions for investors in the industry as quickly as possible, at the expense of Mozambicans' civil rights. This study evaluates jatropha production in Mozambique and highlights the significant gap between the rhetoric and reality.
Losing the plot: Jatropha in India
Friends of the Earth Europe, January 2010: As India’s economy has grown, its energy demand has increased rapidly and the Indian government has looked to alternative supplies, including biofuels. The jatropha plant – a bush native to South America which grows in dry areas and can produce oil-rich seeds – has been identified as an ideal source of biodiesel, with a target set to replace 20% of diesel consumption by 2017. However, evidence suggests that jatropha grown in its present form is unlikely to deliver the benefits its supporters have promised.
Europe's demand for palm oil driving deforestation and land-grabbing
Friends of the Earth Europe/Netherlands, March 2010: One of the leading suppliers of "green" palm oil to Europe is causing illegal encroachment upon Indonesian forest and peat land, according to a report published by Friends of the Earth Europe. This report exposes the illegal activities of the Malaysian showcase company IOI Group and shows that the increasing demand in Europe for palm oil in food and biofuels is leading to deforestation, breaches of environmental law and land conflicts in Asia.
Climate justice times
Friends of the Earth International, Copenhagen 2009: Newspaper released by FoEI during the UN climate talks in Copenhagen highlighting our positions on issues such as carbon offsetting and agrofuels.
the agrofuels debate in africa: challenges and opportunities
Friends of the Earth Nigeria, November 2008: Mitigating Climate Change, Providing Food Security and Self-Reliance for Rural Livelihoods.
Jatropha: wonder crop? - Experience from Swaziland
Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland / Swaziland, May 2009: Local non-government organisations (NGOs) have raised concerns about the social and environmental impacts of jatropha and studies have questioned some of the claims made about jatropha’s benefits. This report highlights those concerns for media and policy makers and questions some of the claims being made by D1 Oils and others for biofuel from jatropha.
Agrofuels cartoons
Friends of the Earth Brazil commissioned a collection of 15 cartoons taking a comic look at ‘sustainable agrofuels’. The cartoons were produced in collaboration with FoE groups and local artists.
European biofuel policies: failing governance - avoiding responsibilities
Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Friends of the Earth Indonesia, September 2009: European biofuel policies and oil palm plantation expansion in Ketapang District, West Kalimantan.
