The un Special Rapporteur on the right to food recently has called for a five-year moratorium on biofuels, calling it a "crime against humanity' to convert food crops to fuel.
Cereal prices have already soared in African countries putting pressure on them to import food, Jean Ziegler said. Designated a rapporteur, Ziegler is an independent expert who reports to the un Commission on human rights.
A moratorium on biofuels will allow scientists to develop ways to make such fuel from crops, without diverting land from food production, he said, citing projects in India where biofuel crops are being planted in arid areas.
Meanwhile, the European Commission announced a reduction in the subsidy to farmers growing biofuel crops this year. "Plantings have increased more than expected,' it reasoned. The subsidy, energy crop premium, was introduced in 2004 following the introduction of a new farm policy in the eua year before. The policy included a flat-rate subsidy of
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Links:
[1] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/news/call-moratorium-biofuel
[2] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/newspaper/down-earth
[3] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/food-crops
[4] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/sugarcane
[5] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/bio-fuel-crops
[6] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/food-supply
[7] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/energy-policy
[8] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/biofuel
[9] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/protected-area-conservation
[10] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/subsidies
[11] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/un
[12] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/uganda
[13] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/food-security
[14] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/european-union-eu
