Congressional Briefing on Biofuels and Hunger
Sponsored by Representative James P. McGovern
Thursday, June 25, 2009 11:00 A.M.
121 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 963 million people currently suffer from hunger and this number could soon surpass a record 1 billion people. Approximately three-quarters of people suffering from hunger in the developing world live in rural areas, many of whom depend on agriculture for their food and livelihood. There have been a growing number of incidents where biofuel cultivation and production have created increased competition for land, often undermining food production and pushing small-scale farmers off their land.
During the House briefing, ActionAid speakers from Guatemala and Senegal will share their first-hand knowledge of the issue along with examples of how the increased demand for biofuels is affecting the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and the food security of entire communities. Panelists will discuss the unintended consequences of increased biofuel production and its impact on indirect land use and food security, as well as civil society mobilizations to address these issues.
The Panel Will Include:
Laura Hurtado, Food Rights Coordinator at ActionAid Guatemala. She holds a doctorate in social sciences from the Facultad Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) and is the author of Agrarian Dynamics and Rural Reproduction in the Era of Globalization: the Case of Alta Verapaz 1970-2007. She works with rural communities in Guatemala on issues of land rights, sustainable agriculture and the impacts of increasing production of sugarcane and palm oil production for biofuels.
Fatou Mbaye, Program Officer at ActionAid Senegal, where she carries out research and advocacy on biofuels and food security. She has a Masters Degree from the Ecole Nationale des Cadres Ruraux in Senegal and a certificate in development studies from Graduate Institute of Development Studies (IUED) in Geneva. Fatou will discuss the results of consultations with Senegalese farmers in 22 communities on the impacts of biofuels production and new advocacy efforts in Senegal to advance sustainable agriculture and food security.
Ralph Heimlich, Principal and owner of Agricultural Conservation Economics. He is the co-author of several papers on indirect land use change emissions associated with production of renewable fuels and the environmental impacts of ethanol production. He retired as a deputy director from USDA’s Economic Research Service in 2003 and worked in EPA-OPPE’s Agricultural Branch. Ralph will discuss the scientific methodologies used to calculate the indirect land use changes resulting from biofuels production.
See letter signed by U.S. development, religious, environmental and family-farm organizations calling on Congress to examine the impacts of biofuels production on food security and land rights.
