At the Nexus of Agrofuels, Land Grabs and Hunger – Part 2 - IPS ipsnews.net

8.12.11

At the Nexus of Agrofuels, Land Grabs and Hunger – Part 2 - IPS ipsnews.net: WASHINGTON, Dec 7, 2011 (IPS) - The forests in Africa absorb over 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon annually. With these diverse and natural forests, grasslands and prairie lands disappearing under investment schemes and the development of monoculture plantations for supposed "green" energy alternatives like agrofuels, not much else remains to absorb the shocks of hunger and climate change.

"Whether they are for energy or for exports on global markets, monocropping schemes are really testing the limits of the ecosystems," Olivier De Schutter, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on the right to food, told IPS. "They are thirsty in water, fail to regenerate the soils and often result in an overuse of pesticides because the natural defences of nature (thanks to the diversity of plants) are missing."

"Raising food production 70 percent by 2050 is a figure habitually wheeled out," he added.