Crisi alimentària i Agrocombustibles
Aquesta setmana de plenari a Estrasburg debatem una proposta de Resolució sobre crisi alimentària en la qual, entre d’altres aspectes, es tracta la influència que sobre la mateixa ha tingut l’aposta pels agrocombustibles. El text de resolució que proposem des de Verds/ALE és aquest. Com a dada curiosa adjunto el vincle amb aquesta web (http://www.worstlobby.eu) en què podeu trobar algunes de les empreses i grups d’interès (lobbies) guardonats amb el premi de ‘pitjors lobbies del 2007′, i entre les quals destaca Repsol, nominada per la seva insistència en distorsionar les línees de recerca de la UE a favor dels agrocombustibles (en detriment, fins i tot, de la recerca en favor de trobar mesures per fer front al canvi climàtic). Així mateix, adjunto a continuació un argumentari que pot ajudar a comprendre la postura que algunes persones defensem en relació a aquesta qüestió:
AGROFUELS AND FOOD SECURITY, A Green/EFA PERSPECTIVE
· Do you want a moratorium on agrofuels?
“Yes, the use of food crops for fuels is wrong. Only waste and residues should be used for energy production.”
· Do you want to scrap the 10% target for “biofuels” as proposed by the Commission in its Directive on renewables energy?
“Yes, this 10% target must be scrapped”
· Are agrofuels a driver for globally soaring food prices?
“Yes, they contribute but are not the only driver”
· How could the EU contribute to global food security?
The EU must reduce its domestic energy and meat consumption and improve efficiency in energy and food production;
The EU must carry out a global food security impact assessment of current domestic crops, meat and energy production on food security within a revision of the Common Agricultural, Energy and Trade policy.
Some background
· Agrofuels can be produced from different organic sources. Waste and residues can be used as feedstock for fuels as they do not compete with food production. The moratorium will be on agrofuels from food crops, not on those that do not compete with food production.
· The 10% biofuels 2020 target in the Renewables Directive has been suggested by the European Council of March 2007. Heads of State and government put however two specific pre-conditions to be fulfilled: a) the production must be sustainable and b) second generation must be commercially available. Since March 2007, evidence is growing that these conditions will not be fulfilled. The 10% target must therefore be abandoned.
· The latest Commission own scientific bodies came to the same conclusion, i.e. to suspend the biofuels target. The Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency wrote on 10th April 2008:”The overambitious 10 per cent target is an experiment, whose unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control”. Similarly the last report on biofuels by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre was also clear in its conclusions: “The costs [of the target] will almost certainly outweigh the benefits.” Taxpayers would face a bill of €33bn-€65bn between now and 2020, the study says. “The uncertainty is too great to say whether the EU 10 per cent biofuel target will save greenhouse gas or not” the report adds.
· Dropping the 10% agro-fuels target will make it even easier to reach the 20% overall renewable energy targets because as with the same amount of support more other renewables can be realised (e.g. wind, solar) and biomass in the EU can be used for other more energy efficient applications such as for electricity or heat production.
· The drivers for global food prices increase are obviously diverse: liberalisation of food market; speculation on feed, food and other raw materials; increased of oil price and change in diet (more meat consumption). In this situation, additional pressure coming from agro-fuels is also a driver for such prices increase.
Food price increases
Why should the EU prioritise European and global food security?
– climate change will lead to increasingly uncertain harvests (droughts, floods,..) which will add to further food supply and price instability, especially where food purchase power is low;
– food price increases and supply shortages hit the poor people and countries first, and cause hunger as well as destabilisation of many regions;
– growing demand for animal feed, fuels, timber and fibre strongly increase competition for land, water and inputs, while due to unsustainable use these vital resources are increasingly depleted and lost;
What should the EU do in order to achieve secure food supply, especially in developing countries?
– the EU should in parallel reshape its policies in agriculture, energy and trade
with priority for food security (food security impact assessment):
-by setting targets for more sustainable practices which preserve soil fertility and biodiversity and enhance low-input agriculture; this should include a rebalancing of plant and animal production to reduce demand for feed;
– by supporting biomass and energy farming only if these sustainable practices are met and are not causing competition for food supply in a global perspective;
– by enforcing competition law in the feed and food sector to avoid further concentration of market power and monopoly positions in the food and feed retailing sector;
– by establishing a trade policy which does not force developing countries to liberalise food supply markets and which applies qualified market access against ecological dumping.
Font foto: http://www.worstlobby.eu
-Sentim parlar molt dels biocombustibles aquests. Però on es fan servir? Es barregen amb la benzina convencional? Perquè jo no en veig sortidors ni vehicles adaptats especialment per al seu ús i si el seu conreu està tenint tanta influència en els conreus a nivell mundial en algun lloc han de ser.
-En el tema de la crisi alimentària de quina manera afectes les mesures proteccionistes europees? És cert que a segons quins països pobres els surt més a compte comprar productes de fora que els seus propis?
-El fet que a la Xina i l’Índia hi hagi un desenvolupament espectacular amb el consegüent augment de demanda de productes no influirà també en el preu dels aliments a escala global?
Mercès