UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) criticizes comment that biofuel production is a “crime against humanity”

Jeff Tschirley, head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said, “FAO strongly feels that food security and environmental considerations must be fully addressed before making investments or policy decisions, and we are actively working to ensure this happens. However, a moratorium that ignores the potential of biofuels to support rural development and assist the economies of developing countries would not, in our view, be a constructive approach to this topic.”

He said that the description of biofuels as a “crime against humanity” by Dr. Jean  Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur on The Right to Food, was regrettable.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food calls conversion of foodstocks to fuel a “crime against humanity”

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said it was a "crime against humanity" to convert food crops to fuel. Dr. Ziegler, United Nations in a report that was submitted to the...

Cuban ethanol production may be limited to bagasse while Fidel Castro lives; financing unclear for shift in stance from Havana

In Cuba, analysts say that Cuban ethanol production will be limited to production from sugar by-product that does not affect the food sugar output. A Reuters report, quoting local sources, said it ...

UN FAO says wood energy a bad substitute for fossil fuels

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned, in a paper presented at the FAO Conference, against the excessive use of wood energy as an alternative fuel strategy. The report said that fuel...

World Bank, IMF, foreign ministers squabble over biofuels, food policy

In Washington, a group of Finance ministers at World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings exchanged sharp words over biofuels as food riots continue to erupt in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, ...

The Top 10 Biofuels Stories of 2008: #8, the Food vs fuel controversy

In the first half of the year, and stampeded of voices cried out against biofuels in the "food vs fuel" debate where biofuels were blamed for the rise in food prices when corn and other commodity ingr...

UN Food and Agriculture Organization says 40 nations face “critical” food shortage as effect of climate change, crop failure, war and biofuels are felt

The UN FAO released a report saying that 40 nations face critical food shortages, for reasons including climate change, higher meat consumption in developing countries, crop failure, war, and diversio...