(Bio)Fueling Injustice? - Europafrica

1. Introduction: adding value to the reflection on
land grabbing and biofuels
The present report builds on the findings presented in the 2009-2010 EuropAfrica
study entitled “Civil Society Monitoring Report for 2009-2010 on the Impact of Europe’s
Policies and Practices on African Agriculture and Food Security: Land Grab Study”
(the “Monitoring” report”) 2 prepared by FIAN International. The report aims furthermore
to compile the latest available insights on issues of commercial investments in land in
Africa. Biofuels were identified in the Monitoring report as a key driver of land
grabbing, and the present report examines this assertion in more detail. Indeed,
the European Union (EU) and its Member States have developed, in the last decade, a
comprehensive and ambitious policy to promote biofuels. Biofuels are liquid fuels
made from biomass which, blended with normal fossil fuel, can act as a source of
energy for transport. Their main advantage is thought to be their environmental impact,
as they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions – which is a factor of global warming.
This report focuses on the human rights, social and environmental impacts of the EU
biofuel policy. The main objective is, based on various cross-checked authoritative
data, to assess the respect by the EU and EU Member States of their strong
commitment to assist developing countries in addressing food security
challenges through support to poor and smallholder producers. 3 To do so, this
report examines the coherence of the EU biofuel policy with its development
objectives, and the respect by the EU and EU Member States of their obligations with
regards to human rights. It is framed in the spirit of the shared aim that no harm and
suffering should result from EU policies, and it seeks to constructively suggest ways to
improve the existing policies and to create a space for dialogue between EU actors,
civil society and affected people to this effect. It is also hoped that it can usefully
contribute to the monitoring of the human rights, social and developmental
impacts of biofuels that the European Commission is currently undertaking and
should release at the end of 2012.
The report is structured around 9 chapters. The first two introduce the issues, and sum
up the findings on land grabbing since the Monitoring report was published. Chapter 3
presents the EU biofuel policy. Chapters 4 to 6 review the impact of agrofuels on local
populations in Africa, through three cases studies, an analysis of the role of the EU
biofuel policy in driving land grabbing and an assessment of the consequences
involved in terms of human rights, food security, governance and the environment.
Chapters 7 and 8 detail the response made by the EU and its Member States to the
challenges exposed in the previous sections, and examine to which extent these
entities have respected their commitments and legal obligations. Finally, a conclusion
and some recommendations are given in Chapter 9.
1.1. Methodology
This report starts from the premises that EU policies are not intended to create harm. It
thus strives to document its statements by compiling and cross-checking a wide
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