Biofuels Alert !

[worldgonewild]

Please tell the European Commission now that they must prevent biofuels from causing ever greater deforestation, biodiversity losses, land evictions and impoverishment of local communities.

For the link to the prepared email that you can send off to the EU see here .

Thank you

Just done it, though I had no idea that the German for United Kingdom is Vereinigte Königreich.

i'm impressed you did an umlowts

Is there anything being suggested in place of biofuels when oil runs out?

Yes, not easy using a German email form.

Biofuels are still an option, as long as they don't compromise virgin forests, peat bogs and food crops! It appears this is what is happening in Brazil, Bolivia, Malaysia, Indonesia & parts of Africa. What some people don't want is biofuel crops coming to Europe from unsustainable sources overseas.

There is an organisation apparently aiming to regulate palm oil cultivation. WWF are on the board, along with plantation owners, processers and retailers (major UK high st. names are members). See here for more info.

David Miliband (the new Environment minister) and Cameron are both doing speeches at the same function today, somewhere near Oxford, to farmers. They're to talk about the future of farming and how biofuels could play a role. How about decent food for the consumer that pays farmers a decent living!

Thanks. Will read up.

Currently, about 80 percent of EU biodiesel is processed from rapeseed, and biodiesel consumes about half of the EU?s rapeseed production.

Background;

Brazil is the world leader in bioethanol production (from sugar cane), followed by the United States (with corn), but the EU is the world leader in biodiesel production (predominately derived from rapeseed). An increasing share of its crop goes into fuel production. Rapeseed consumption has increased rapidly within the EU, to the point where it has become a net-importer of rapeseed for the first time in recent history. Furthering demand, there is a lack of processing capacity, raising vegetable oil prices. A number of oilseed crushing facilities are planned or being developed, as well as a number of plant conversions are occurring. In addition, soybean processing facilities are being retooled to allow for rapeseed processing, with its higher crush margin. Many processing plants are becoming multi-seed crushing facilities. These changes will help eliminate the current lack of processors within the EU. The EU doesn't produce very large amounts of soybeans (0.9 million tons estimated for 2006/07), so they are forced to import. Most of their imports originate in Brazil, partly because of the relatively high protein and oil content in its soybeans, and its long season.

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