(Bio)Fueling Injustice? - Europafrica

iofuels production should thus always:
1) Be considered in the light of other sources of empirical data, e.g. data on
the trends and direction of investments in land;
2) Be taken together with smaller-scale or qualitative studies which describe
more specific and easily measurable situations.
5.2. Linking Europe biofuel policies and land grabbing in
Africa
There is thus little doubt that, globally, the large scale expansion of agrofuels drives,
and will drive, land grabbing. In this context, there is no reason to think that EU
policies escape this global trend. Up to now, the EU has often argued that its biofuel
policy is not responsible for land grabbing in Africa as the EU would not import biofuels
from African countries. This is, however, highly contestable. Even if it were valid, there
is no mechanism in place to ensure that it is, or will remain the case, and it can be
shown that the EU and its Member States in fact drive land grabbing in Africa through
their biofuel policies in several ways.
5.2.1. Driving the demand for land to grow biofuel feedstocks…
“The incentives provided for in this Directive will encourage increased production of
biofuels and bioliquids worldwide.” This point of view is not expressed in an antibiofuels
brief, but comes from the RED itself. 186 So it was well anticipated by the EU
that its biofuel policy – as any other such policies – would stimulate the demand for
land. As was mentioned previously, it is extremely difficult to estimate how much
additional land will be needed to meet EU biofuel targets, but it seems clear that it will
be counted in millions of hectares. Before the RED was adopted, between 2004 and
2008, biofuel production only (excluding imports) was estimated to have required
globally about one million hectares additional arable land. 187 As of 2008, the total land
use associated with EU biofuel consumption amounted to 7 million hectares, almost
half of which in third countries. This land use was for the production of 11.9 Million
Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (Mtoe) biofuels, which represents 0.59 million hectares of
land per Mtoe of biofuels. 188 As Member States plan on increasing their consumption
of biofuels to 17.196 Mtoe by 2020, 189 it means, keeping the same pace, that 10
million of hectares of additional land could be needed by 2020, including 5
million hectares additional land outside the EU. Overall, the Gallagher Review
considers that between 22 million hectares and 31.5 million hectares of land could be
needed in total by 2020 to reach the EU target. 190
While yield increase could lessen the demand on land, this will not automatically
happen as investors move to “cheaper” developing countries´ land where the
infrastructures do not allow them to easily and rapidly practice such intensive farming.
It is also sometimes considered that the amount of land strictly needed for biofuels is
lower than these figures since feedstocks used for biofuels, such as maize, produce
co-products which can be used for animal feed, thus allowing for fewer crops to be
grown specifically for animal feed. 191 However, this does not make a difference in
terms of land grabbing – as the land is still taken away. Even taking more optimistic
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