Parliament will discuss on Monday and Tuesday of next week whether to approve the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), which requires that 5 per cent of the UK's fuels are sourced from biofuels by 2010. In the same week, the UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food is expected to renew his calls for a 5 year moratorium on the production of biofuels - because of negative impacts on access to food for much of the world's poor.
The UN has already warned that 'the sudden, ill-conceived, rush to convert food ... into fuels is a recipe for disaster.'
The Green Party recently voted at its Autumn conference to call for an immediate moratorium on large scale monocultures of biofuels.
Dr. Caroline Lucas, Green Party Principal Speaker, said:
"The rush to biofuels is already having a disasterous effect on some of the world's poorest people - with increased food prices, increased competition over land, forced evictions and increased scarcity of water.
"Most of the plants used for biofuels come from food crops such as maize and wheat, which form the staple diet of millions of people who already have uncertain access to food. The problem of food insecurity in much of the world risks being exacerbated by the UK's biofuel targets - creating competition between food and energy for agricultural resources.
"It's estimated that to fill one car tank with biofuel requires around 200kg of maize - enough to feed one person for one year .
"|We are pitting the needs of the car drivers in the West for fuel against the needs of much of the world's poor for food.
"The UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has called for a 5 year moratorium on biofuels, because of their impact on food supplies, and is expected to this week renew his call.
"It is incredible that in the same week that the the UK government will try to force through regulations to rapidly introduce biofuels and force UK consumers to buy them, a top UN official will call for a 5 year moratorium on biofuels because they are driving starvation."
"We face a simple choice - exploiting some of the world's poorest people, denying them access to food, in order that we - the world's rich - can continue in our profligate use of fuel."
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