• by Nnimmo Bassey
• Tuesday, November 29, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Science tells us that we are heading for a climate crisis, yet it is within our means to change course. However, some very worrying false solutions are on the table in the United Nations Climate talks (UNFCCC), for instance promoting the biofuels currently on the market, such as ethanol, writes Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth International and executive director and founding member of Environmental Rights Action.

Those who still argue that agrofuels emit much less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels mostly ignore the fact that emissions are released during production, as a result of land-use change, fertiliser application and processing. Still, many governments, international financial institutions such as the World Bank and multinational agribusiness, oil and transport companies are promoting agrofuels as a solution to world energy needs.

In my country, Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its foreign partners acquired large chunks of land, in almost all the 36 states of the country, for the production of ethanol, from staples like cassava, sorghum and sugarcane. Some of the agrofuels plantations and production plants are located in communities with pre-existing water shortages, which leave the communities with almost nothing to live on. Researchers from Friends of the Earth Nigeria found during one field visit that local people had not even been consulted by the state government before community lands were appropriated.

(*) Nnimmo Bassey is the current Chair of Friends of the Earth International and the executive director and founding member of Environmental Rights Action.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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