 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Biofuel revolution by developed countries will lead to food crisis for the world's poor, speed up global warming and lead to the loss of vital habitat worldwide, environmentalists have warned.
The campaigners of climate change would on Tuesday protest in Britain to highlight the ecological cost of producing billions of litres of petrol and diesel from plant sources.
They would also urge the government to impose guarantees that the new technology reduces carbon emissions.
The absence of any standards requiring producers to prove their biofuel was not the product of highly damaging agricultural practices responsible for destroying ecology all around the world was ''disastrous'', the Independent quoted campaigners as saying.
A study contained by Royal Society For the Protection of Birds (RSPB) criticised the introduction of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which requires oil companies to ensure all petrol and diesel to contain a minimum level of biofuel, as 'over-hasty and utter folly'.
There was already widespread evidence that biofuel production was destroying vast areas of unspoilt habitat and has made at least one species extinct, RSPB chief executive Graham Wynne said.
The World Bank and the UN had also expressed concern about the impact of biofuels on world food prices, sparking riots from Haiti to the Philippines.