Rome - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) on Tuesday called for an urgent review worldwide of biofuel
policies and subsidies to ensure they protect poor farmers and do not
impact negatively on global food security.
'Biofuels present both opportunities and risks. The outcome would
depend on the specific context of the country and the policies
adopted,' FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said in a statement
released by the Rome-based agency.
'Current policies tend to favour producers in some developed
countries over producers in most developing countries. The challenge
is to reduce or manage the risks while sharing the opportunities more
widely,' Diouf added.
Biofuel production based on agricultural commodities increased
more than threefold from 2000 to 2007, and now covers nearly 2 per
cent of the world's consumption of transport fuels, FAO said in its
annual State of Food and Agriculture report, published Tuesday.
The growth is expected to continue, but the contribution of liquid
biofuels (mostly ethanol and biodiesel) to transport energy, and even
more so to global energy use, will remain limited, the report said.
Despite the limited importance of liquid biofuels in terms of
global energy supply, the demand for agricultural feedstocks (sugar,
maize, oilseeds) for liquid biofuels will continue to grow over the
next decade and perhaps beyond, putting upward pressure on food
prices, FAO said.
High agricultural commodity prices are already having a negative
impact on developing countries that are highly dependent on imports
to meet their food requirements, FAO said.
'Particularly at risk are poor urban consumers and poor net food
buyers in rural areas,' the report said, noting how many of the
world's poor spend more than half of their incomes on food.
'Decisions about biofuels should take into consideration the food
security situation but also the availability of land and water,'
Diouf said. 'All efforts should aim at preserving the utmost goal of
freeing humanity from the scourge of hunger,' he said.
Production of biofuels must also be assessed in terms of its
impact on the environment, the report said, noting that the expanded
use and production of biofuels 'will not necessarily contribute as
much to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as was previously assumed.'
While some biofuel feedstocks, such as sugar, can generate
significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, this is not the case
for many other feedstocks.
The largest impact of biofuels on greenhouse gas emissions is
determined by land-use change.
'Changes in land use - for example deforestation to meet growing
demand for agricultural products - are a great threat to land
quality, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions,' Diouf said in
the statement.
The FAO chief also noted that biofuel production can present
opportunities to the poor, provided certain conditions are met.
'Opportunities for developing countries to take advantage of
biofuel demand would be greatly advanced by the removal of the
agricultural and biofuel subsidies and trade barriers that create an
artificial market,' Diouf said.
The current subsidy policies benefit producers in highly developed
countries such as those belonging to the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) 'at the expense of producers in
developing countries,' Diouf said.
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