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BIOFUELS & THE FOOD CRISIS
Date: Sunday 10th August 2008
Time: 2.15pm to 4.45pm
Venue: London Mennonite Centre (Just off Archway Road), 14 Shepherds Hill, London, N6 5AQ. Nearest Tube: Highgate (Northern line): 5 mins walk: (Take the Archway Road exit).
Streetmap:Click here
Speaker:
Helena Paul (EcoNexus)
The recent rush for biofuels is already having an impact on food prices. In this months forum we ask, why is this happening?, and who are the major players? We will also consider the context of biofuels expansion - attempting to address climate change without major lifestyle changes, and also helping increase farmers incomes - whilst reflecting on the reality of people in Indonesia being unable to find or afford cooking oil and the cost of rice provoking unrest in various parts of Asia, with India restricting exports. We will thus ask ourselves this fundamental question, How can we address the ever-increasing demand for affordable food and energy, when we only have one planet?
We will also catch-up with recent environmental events and consider ideas for the future. No charge and open to all.
About the speaker:
Helena Paul has campaigned on the protection of indigenous peoples' rights and tropical forests in Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil; also on agricultural biodiversity, oil exploitation in the tropics, patents on life and genetic engineering. She is chair of the GM Freeze UK and co-director of EcoNexus. She is co-author of
Hungry Corporations: Transnational Biotech Companies Colonise the Food Chain. In 2006, she began to work on agrofuels, as part of a small group of organisations that launched the first call for a moratorium on EU targets and incentives, and imports from agrofuel monocultures to the EU, because of the grave threat posed by the rush for agrofuels to small farmers, local food production, biodiversity and climate. She also shared in writing and coordinated publication of a report from the same group:
Agrofuels: Towards a Reality Check in Nine Key Areas, published in July 2007.
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