ESPAĆ`OL ADJUNTO

4th May 2007

Joint press release by Global Forest Coalition, Biofuelwatch, Global
Justice Ecology Project, Grupo de Reflexion Rural (Argentina),
Rettet
den Regenwald e.V., Econexus, Munlochy Vigil, and Noah (Friends of
the Earth Denmark), Corporate Europe Observatory, and Gaia Foundation

-for immediate release -

Environmental groups condemn IPCC call for large scale biofuels as a
climate disaster in the making

The IPCC Assessment Report Four has made a compelling case on what
global warming means to the planet this century. It is the IPCC's
strongest warning yet that drastic cuts in carbon emissions are
vital
if we are to avoid a catastrophic acceleration of climate change.
Environmental groups are, however, deeply concerned that the IPCC's
Summary for Policy Makers on climate mitigation, released earlier
today, includes a recommendation for large-scale expansion of
biofuels from monocultures, including from GM crops, even though
monoculture expansion is a driving force behind the destruction of
rainforests and other carbon sinks and reservoirs, thus accelerating
climate change. The IPCC also recommend the expansion of large-
scale
agroforestry monoculture plantations. These plantations, which will
include GM trees, are similarly linked to ecosystem destruction.
Monoculture expansion is a major threat to the livelihoods and food
sovereignty of communities many of which are already bearing the
brunt of climate change disasters caused largely by the fossil fuel
emissions of industrialised countries.

Almuth Ernsting of Biofuelwatch stated: "It is already clear that the
burgeoning demand for biofuels that has been created to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions is actually increasing them by deforestation
in the tropics and accelerating climate change. So far, only 1% of
global transport fuel comes from biofuels, yet already biofuels cause
steep rises in grain and vegetable oil prices, threatening the food
security of poor people and spurring agricultural expansion into
forests and grasslands, on which we depend for a stable climate".

The IPCC recommend second generation GM biofuels, which are widely
believed to be at least 10-15 years away from commercialisation.
There are serious concerns about the risks involved in technologies
which will rely heavily on GM microbes and fungi for the refining
process, as well as GM crops and trees.

Mayer Hillman, senior fellow emeritus at Policy Studies Institute
said: "There is an inherent and acutely serious problem within the
report. On the one hand, it leaves us in no doubt to how vital
conservation of the planet's ecosystems and carbon sinks are to
averting the worst predictions made in the previous sections of the
report. On the other, it proposes the large scale use of the
biosphere to satisfy demand in the transport and energy sectors."

Simone Lovera, managing coordinator of the Global Forest Coalition,
a worldwide coalition of NGOs and Indigenous Peoples Organizations
added: "It is difficult to see how an emphasis on protecting
rainforests and curbing deforestation is compatible with using
biofuels as a solution to climate change when there are no policy
instruments that guarantee biofuel expansion without accelerating
deforestation."

The IPCC report would appear to suggest that the climate can be
stabilised at a safe level without reducing growth. The signatories
to the press release believe that only large-scale reductions in
energy use in the industrial nations, together with investment in
sustainable forms of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power,
can avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Contacts:

Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, UK: +44 -(0)1224 324797 (mornings and
evenings); 01224 553195 (afternoons).

Simone Lovera, Global Forest Coalition (Paraguay office)
+595-(0)21-663654 (English, Spanish and Dutch)

Anthony Jackson, Munlochy Vigil, UK +44-1381-610740

Helena Paul, Econexus,, UK +44-(0)20 7431 4357

Notes to Editors:

1. For details of the signatory organisations see:
Global Forest Coalition:
< http://www.wrm.org.uy/GFC ; Biofuelwatch:
< http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk; Global
Justice Ecology Project:
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org ;
Grupo de Reflexion Rural: < http://www.grr.org.ar/>;
Rettet den Regenwald e.V.:
< http://www.regenwal d.org/>; Econexus:
< http://www.econexus.info/>;
Munlochy Vigil:
< http://www.munlochygmvigil.org.uk/>;
Noah: < http://www.noah.dk/english.html>;
Corporate Europe Observatory:
< http://www.corporat eeurope.org/>; Gaia
Foundation:
< http://www.gaiafoundation.org/>

2. Indonesia's biofuel plans, are set to expand Palm Oil production
43-fold [tinyurl.com/33lb7r] and threaten most of that country's
remaining rainforests and peatlands. If those plans are
implemented,
up to 50 billion tonnes of carbon are likely to be released into the
atmosphere. This is the equivalent of over six years of global
fossil fuel burning would clearly stand in the way of our common
objective of stabilizing the climate before feedback mechanisms make
this impossible.

3. NASA have shown that the rate of Amazon deforestation directly
correlates with the world market price of soya [ tinyurl.com/2pfga4]
That price is expected to rise sharply as demand for soya biodiesel
grows. Soya expansion is linked to deforestation not just in the
Amazon but also elsewhere, including the Pantanal, South America's
Atlantic Forest and a portion of the Paranaense forest in Paraguay
and North of Argentina. In Argentina, more than 500000 ht of forest
land were converted to soya plantations between 1998 to 2002
[ tinyurl.com/28upep].

4. Governments like the Brazilian government claim that they will
only expand on degraded lands. The Brazilian National Agro-energy
Plan has qualified no less than 200 million hectares of Brazilian
territory as "degraded" and thus suitable for the expansion of
biofuel monocultures. However, most of these so-called "degraded"
lands are either biologically rich dry forest or grassland
ecosystems
that form the livelihood basis of Indigenous Peoples and other local
communities, or lands that are used for cattle ranching or
small-scale subsistence farming. If these lands are taken over by
biofuel plantations, cattle ranches and small farms will be forced
to
move further into the Amazon and Atlantic forests and other precious
ecosystems, causing accelerated deforestation.

5. From The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report:
"human actions are depleting Earth's natural capital, putting such
strain on the environment that the ability of the planet's ecosystems
to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. At
the same time, the assessment shows that with appropriate actions it
is possible to reverse the degradation of many ecosystem services
over the next 50 years, but the changes in policy and practice
required are substantial and not currently underway." "Although
individual ecosystem services have been assessed previously, the
finding that 60% of a group of 24 ecosystem services examined by the
MA are being degraded is the first comprehensive audit of the status
of Earth's natural capital."
< http://www.maweb.org/en/Article.aspx?
id=58>http://www.maweb.org/en/Article.aspx?id=58

6. The main GM crops (soya, maize and oilseed rape) are already
being
used for biofuels, leading to competition between food/animal feed
and fuel production, notably with maize in the US. There is strong
evidence [ tinyurl.com/35o36j] of the genetically modified RR soya
undermining food sovereignty and security in Argentina and being
linked to accelerated deforestation and biodiversity losses,
including in the Gran Chaco forest, which remained fairly intact
prior to the advent of GM soya. GM soya depends on widespread use of
pesticides, which encourages herbicide-resistant weeds. For further
information about the negative impacts of GM crops, including cross
pollination and GM contamination, see
<http://www.econexus.info/>www.econexus.info and
< http://www.gmfreeze.org/>www.gmfreeze.org .

7. The US Department of Energy website [ tinyurl.com/2phn7z] details
the fundamental barriers to producing cellulosic ethanol which yields
more energy than is used in the refining process. It is not known
whether those barriers can ever be overcome. The aim of cellulosic
ethanol research is to create GM plants with reduced lignin, and to
create enzymes through GM technologies which can effectively break
down cellulose and hemicellulose, fundamental building blocks of
plants, on which all higher life forms depend. No risk assessment
has ever been carried out. For further information, see
tinyurl.com/2vhzow.


Simone Lovera
managing coordinator
Global Forest Coalition
Bruselas 2273
AsunciĆ³n, Paraguay
tel/fax: 595-21-663654
http://www.wrm.org.uy/GFC
Email: simonelovera@...

[Thanks Shubhranshu Choudhary ji for this information.-Moderator]