News and success stories
Stay in the loop with news of ongoing campaigns and successes in the fight against rainforest destruction.
Biofuel land grabbing in Northern Ghana
This is the story of how a Norwegian biofuel company took advantage of Africa’s traditional system of communal land ownership and current climate and economic pressure to claim and deforest large tracts of land in Kusawgu, Northern Ghana with the intention of creating “the largest jatropha plantation in the world”.
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Indonesia: Dayak tribes in danger of extinction
According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), at least 236 plant species and 51 animal species are in danger of extinction in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island. Indonesia is the second country with most biodiversity in the world. It has the highest number of species, most of them endemic, and in danger of extinction. Indonesia is also well known for its continuous destruction of primary forests. The main cause of this ecological disaster is the intensive cultivation of oil palm, that continues it world expansion to produce the so-called biofuels.
Seized: The 2008 landgrab for food and financial security
"Today's food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab. On the one hand, "food insecure" governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production. On the other hand, food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result, fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated. If left unchecked, this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in numerous places around the world."
Food versus Jatropha
Defined as areas that receive low rainfall and are problematic sites in terms of soil erosion because the little rainfall they receive comes in heavy down pour. These regions have very fragile ecosystems. Since they are fragile, these areas are subject to environment stress of deforestation, prolonged draughts, decreasing soil and ground water. However the term marginal does not mean that these lands are uninhabited or waste. They support very large human and animal population.
Palm Oil Industry will never be sustainable
Palm oil plantations already have caused deforestation of primary forests that in reality are part of ancestral and community land. As consequences, water sources, food, medicine, spiritality and culture are depleted. Furthermore, deforestation in the world is the second largest source contributing to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. On November 18-20, 2008, palm oil companies met again (at the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil) in Bali, Indonesia, to continue their large scale expansion plannings.
Certified unsustainable?
Observations on the first three Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certificates. Three palm oil companies have now had plantations certified under the RSPO. Biofuelwatch has prepared the quite detailed report "Certified unsustainable. Observations on the first three RSPO certificates".
More than 250 organizations condemn the greenwashing of palm oil
REPORT: Agrofuels & the Myth of the Marginal Lands
A critical look at proposals for agrofuel crops to be planted on lands that are considered "idle" or "wastelands". In most cases, these "marginal lands'" are vital for the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, pastoralists, women and indigenous peoples.
An Open Letter from the Earth
We are terrified, for example, about the deforestation of the Amazonian rain forest partly because of the widespread belief that life on Earth depends on such wooded ecosystems. Humankind would be at a very serious risk if the deforestation of the Amazonian region continued, as encouraged by the presumably socially oriented nature of the Brazilian government. Equally, the idea of farmland as an ecosystem in rapid degradation should generate on us exactly the same kind of distress. Read more...