Biofuel targets help fuel human rights disaster in Indonesia

14 April 2008
Topics: Climate

Today’s launch of the report Losing Ground by a coalition including Scottish groups [1], comes at a time when it’s looking like our once glowing biofuel driven future is entering troubled waters. The report is to be launched tonight at an event hosted by LifeMosaic [10].

A whole spectrum of governments and international organisations, including Gordon Brown [2], the International Monetary Fund [3], the UN Secretary General [4], the European Environmental Agency [5] and many NGOs have been urging caution on these incredibly destructive fuels.

Today also sees the launch of the UK governments Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) which mandates the use of 2.5% of biofuels at British fuel pumps [6]. This will force Britain to massively increase its imports of biofuels, with only weak guarantees that the fuels will be sustainably produced [7]. The RTFO is the UK implementation of EU wide targets [8].

The Losing Ground report investigates how the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations for biofuels and food is leading to widespread human rights abuses in Indonesia. The report exposes the disastrous social consequences being fuelled in part by EU targets to increase the use of biofuels in transport [9].

The report claims, in addition to the human rights abuses associated with large-scale land grabs, rapid biofuels development is also:

·       increasing greenhouse gas emissions

·       leading to large-scale deforestation in tropical countries

·       adding pressure on food prices leading to food riots around the world

The report reveals that oil palm companies often use violent tactics to grab land from indigenous communities with the collusion of the police and authorities. Previously self-reliant families, who were able to meet their own needs from the forest around them, complain of being tricked into giving up their land with the promise of jobs and new developments. Instead they end up locked into debt and poorly paid work, while the bounty of the rainforest is replaced with monotonous oil palm plantations. Pollution from pesticides, fertilisers and the pressing process is also leaving some villages without clean water.

Since 2005, Friends of the Earth, Sawit Watch and LifeMosaic have worked closely together on a project aimed at bringing impartial information to communities affected by oil palm plantations in Indonesia, enabling them to make informed decisions about their land and their futures. Losing Ground draws on community testimonies gathered during this project, new Sawit Watch data and previous research to provide an insight into the social, economic and cultural impacts of oil palm plantations.

Duncan McLaren, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said:
“Scientists have recently been clamoring to remind policy makers that the current generation of biofuels are generally worse for the environment than fossil fuels. This report shows that as well as being bad for the environment, biofuels from palm oil are a disaster for people. Politicians must sit up and take notice. MEPs should use the forthcoming debate on this in the European Parliament to reject the 10 per cent biofuel target, and instead insist that all new cars are designed to be highly efficient. Scottish politicians should ensure that no public money supports unsustainable biofuel production or refining in Scotland, and instead work to reduce transport emissions by improving public transport and making it easier for people to walk and cycle. The SNP will discuss biofuels at their national conference next weekend, in the context of a motion calling for cars to be renewably powered by 2040. They should ensure that unsustainable biofuels have no place in their policies.”

Serge Marti from LifeMosaic, author of Losing Ground:

“Indonesia is a uniquely diverse country whose communities and environment are being sacrificed for the benefit of a handful of companies and wealthy individuals. This report should help the Indonesian government to recognise that there is a problem, and to step up efforts to protect the rights of communities. In Europe we must realise that encouraging large fuel companies to grab community land across the developing world is no solution to climate change. The EU must play its part by abandoning its 10 per cent target for biofuels.”

Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow, said:

"As the clamour against unsustainable biofuels grows stronger, reports like Losing Ground show us that not only are the environmental impacts of these fuels enormous, but the social impacts are just as worrying and are all too often ignored. A headlong dash to biofuels could have a dire impact both internationally and at home, where farmers are increasingly concerned about the implications of moving to biofuel crops. I will be tabling a motion at Holyrood encouraging Ministers to exercise extreme caution with the use of these fuels."

Abetnego Tarigan, Deputy Director Sawit Watch:

"Oil palm companies have already taken over 7.3 million hectares of land for plantations, resulting in 513 ongoing conflicts between companies and communities. Given the negative social and environmental impacts of oil palm, Sawit Watch demands reform of the Indonesian oil palm plantation system and a re-think of plantation expansion plans. "

The report can be downloaded from http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/losingground and http://www.lifemosaic.net

ENDS

NOTES

[1] The report comes from a coalition of organisations including Edinburgh-based LifeMosaic (www.lifemosaic.net), Friends of the Earth Scotland (www.foe-scotland.org.uk) and Indonesian based NGO SawitWatch (www.sawitwatch.or.id).

[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aLqRtHbrn9R0&refer=uk

[3] http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=20118

[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/05/biofuels.food

[5] http://www.canadiandriver.com/thenews/2008/04/10/committee-wants-european-biofuel-target-suspended.htm

[6] The RTFO is the UK implementation of the EU wide bio-fuels target.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/environment/rtfo/

[7] The European commission is proposing sustainability criteria for biofuels but they do not include any attempts to address the social impacts of biofuel production. This means that the EU’s increased biofuel use will lead to more of the types of problems exposed in Losing Ground as more land is converted to meet the increased demand for palm oil.

[8] The European Commission has recently proposed a target for 10 per cent of road transport fuel to come from biofuels by 2020 in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, despite mounting evidence that biofuels fail to deliver such reductions. These targets will fuel a huge expansion in the amount of land used to grow oil palm. Friends of the Earth and LifeMosaic are calling on MEPs and Member States to reject the 10 per cent target when it comes before the European Parliament and Council this spring. To tackle transport pollution the EU should instead strengthen its proposals for mandatory emissions limits on all new cars.

[9] 85% of the worlds Palm Oil is produced in plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. According to local government plans Indonesia alone plans a further 20million hectares of plantations by 2020 - an area the size of England, Holland and Switzerland combined. The Oil Palm industry says that plantation expansion is vital for economic development and methods used are both environmentally sustainable and benefit the local people. However in the resulting vast monoculture plantations little survives. Half the loss of orang-utans habitat in the last decade has been linked to Oil Palm plantation expansion. The deforestation and drainage of peat swamps for palm oil production has made Indonesia the third highest emitter of green house gases after the USA and China.

[10] The report will be launched Tuesday 15 April 2008, 6.30-7.30 pm at The Melting Pot, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PR. There will be a presentation by Serge Marti from LifeMosaic. The presentation will be about LifeMosaic's work, and about the human rights impacts of the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations for food and biofuels in Indonesia. The presentation will include a 20 minute talk, 20 minutes questions and 20 minutes to show 'Palmed Off', a short film by LifeMosaic based on the voices of indigenous people's in 20 Indonesian communities that have directly experienced the impacts of oil palm plantations taking over their land.

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