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A. LE FLOCH
Our NGO has been active in the sugar-biofuel field since 2003. Its purpose is to improve the social conditions of the workers in the sugar cane sector in relation to biofuels as well as dual production of electricity.
The social conditions of the sugar cane cutters cause particular concern due to the increased requirements in productivity for the sake of profit. This situation lead Amnesty International in its 2008 report to highlight the working conditions of the cane cutters in Brazil not much different from exploitation (1).
Cases of slave labour were also mentioned; although uncommon they illustrate major social unrest. The increasing number of sugar cane plantations as well as the gradual replacement of labour by machines could lead to a disastrous social impact, should governments not play an active role in training and redeployment schemes.
Therefore, stakeholders should be aware of the worsening living conditions of the local communities accelerated by the labour replacement methods of European multinationals. In addition, vast areas of land, thanks to foreign investors (2), are used for the sole purpose of sugar cane production.
This has a direct link to the reduction of diversification. This concern is shared by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. As far as media pressure is concerned, in terms of the relationship between biofuels and the sudden rise in the price of food stuff, we believe that biofuels are not directly linked to the surge in prices.
We therefore agree with the analysis which the CIRAD (French agricultural research centre working for international development) reports as : “The actual volumes of agricultural products used for biofuels do not account for the increase in price. This is with the exception of some local American corn suppliers, who are the main producers of these biofuels.Agrimonde which is the name of the prospective project lead by CIRAD and INRA believes that less than 5% of the total weight of vegetable calories produced world-wide are used for non-food consumption of which biofuels form part of” (3).
Nevertheless, we believe that speculative investments linked by biofuels followed by the increased demand for land are to be considered as bullish tendencies as far as food stuffs are concerned.
The International Banks namely European ones, therefore have a direct role in this speculation which is more concerned with profit rather than human consideration (4).
We therefore remind financial institutions of their commitments towards equator principles (5) in terms of sustainable development.
[3] Communiqué du 17 avril 2008 - L a hausse des prix alimentaires au Sud : causes, conséquences, propositionshttp://www.cirad.fr/fr/actualite/communique.php ?id=919
[4] Les A mis de la terre – communiqué du 22 mai 2008 "Le financement européen de la production d’agrocarburants en Amérique latine"