A gaggle of UN agencies have just published a report on biofuels, says the Guardian this morning (see also previous Global Dashboard posts on biofuels). Although the report presents a mixed picture of upsides and downsides, it’s clear about the food security risks:
Expanded production [of biofuel crops] adds uncertainty. It could also increase the volatility of food prices with negative food security implications… The benefits to farmers are not assured, and may come with increased costs. [Growing biofuel crops] can be especially harmful to farmers who do not own their own land, and to the rural and urban poor who are net buyers of food, as they could suffer from even greater pressure on already limited financial resources. At their worst, biofuel programmes can also result in a concentration of ownership that could drive the world’s poorest farmers off their land and into deeper poverty.
Absolutely. Slightly confusing, then, to see UNEP head Achim Steiner saying the opposite, according to the FT last month:
The UN’s top environment official has backed a European Union plan to require the blending of plant-based biofuels into road fuels despite fears by environmentalists that this could lead to increased deforestation in south-east Asia and Brazil. Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme, said on Thursday that biofuels were needed to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels.
What’s especially striking about the coverage of Steiner’s April remarks is that all of his responses to criticism of biofuels focus on the one specific charge that environmental NGOs have decided to lead on: that biofuels are driving deforestation through palm oil plantations and so on.
What he doesn’t address or attempt to rebut is the more significant risk of biofuels undermining food security (remember those riots in Mexico?).
All this just underlines once again the need for development and environmental agencies to pull together a common strategy on biofuels that took account of both climate mitigation and development and food security. Achim Steiner is widely regarded as a smart operator within the UN system, and given the Secretary General’s strong current focus on climate change, perhaps he can drive integration forward.
Or maybe DFID and Defra can get there first and show what a properly integrated approach to biofuels would look like?
