Food shortage likely in global rush for biofuel: U.N.

John Vidal

Winners and losers in multi-billion dollar industry — small farmers at risk.

THE GLOBAL rush to switch from oil to energy derived from plants will drive deforestation, push small farmers off the land, and lead to serious food shortages and increased poverty unless carefully managed, says the most comprehensive survey yet completed of energy crops.

The United Nations report, compiled by all 30 of the world organisation's agencies, points to crops like palm oil, maize, sugarcane, soya, and jatropha. Rich countries want to see these extensively grown for fuel as a way to reduce their own climate changing emissions. Their production could help stabilise the price of oil, open up new markets and lead to higher commodity prices for the poor. But the U.N. urges governments to beware their human and environmental impacts, some of which could have irreversible consequences.

The report, which predicts winners and losers, will be studied carefully by the emerging multi-billion dollar a year biofuel industry, which wants to provide as much as 25 per cent of the world's energy within 20 years.

Last year, more than a third of the entire U.S. maize crop went to ethanol for fuel, a 48 per cent increase on 2005, and Brazil and China grew the crops on nearly 50 million acres. The European Union has said that 10 per cent of all fuel must come from biofuels by 2020. Biofuels can be used in place of petrol and diesel and can play a part in reducing emissions from transport.

Positives too

On the positive side, the U.N. says that the crops have the potential to reduce and stabilise the price of oil, which could be very beneficial to poor countries. But it acknowledges that forests are already being felled to provide the land to grow vast plantations of palm oil trees. Environment groups argue strongly that this is catastrophic for the climate, and potentially devastating for forest animals such as orangutans in Indonesia.

The U.N. warns: "Where crops are grown for energy purposes the use of large scale cropping could lead to significant biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and nutrient leaching. Even varied crops could have negative impacts if they replace wild forests or grasslands." But the survey's findings are mixed on whether the crops will benefit or penalise poor countries, where most of the crops are expected to be grown in future. One school of thought argues they will take the best land, which will increase global food prices. This could benefit some farmers but penalise others and also increase the cost of emergency food aid.

"Expanded production [of biofuel crops] adds uncertainty. It could also increase the volatility of food prices with negative food security implications," says the report that was complied by U.N.-Energy.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007