UK: Campaigners criticise biofuel rules

New rules which aim to make transport fuels greener are putting millions of people in the developing world at risk of being driven off their lands, it has been claimed.

Oxfam said the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO). which requires 2.5% of all petrol and diesel sold at UK forecourts to come from renewable biofuels, was contributing to human rights abuses and rising food prices.
The aid agency said the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues had estimated some 60 million indigenous people faced clearance from their land to make way for biofuel plantations such as palm oil.

Oxfam said it was investigating reports of human rights abuses and land-grabbing in Asia, Africa and South America, and was concerned higher food prices could lead to greater hunger among the world’s poor.

Ahead of the obligation’s introduction, Oxfam said British drivers were being forced into supporting the unsustainable policy, which environmentalists say is also contributing to deforestation and exacerbating climate change.

But the Government has insisted the gradual introduction of biofuels will cut millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly recently announced a review focusing on the “indirect” consequences of biofuel production such as changing the use of land from food to energy crops.

Press Association