BrevardBioDiesel Blog

The Times Online reports on the disturbing consequences of increased biofuel demand:

A surge in demand for biofuels derived from agricultural products has unleashed a chaotic land grab by a new breed of gangster entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on the world’s thirst for palm oil and related bioproducts.

The Columbian Institute for Rural Development reports that 95% of the palm has been planted illegally (without consulting the land owners, using force).

In a 2003 order by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights it was noted that:

Since 2001, the company URAPALMA S.A. has initiated cultivation of the oil palm on approximately 1,500 hectares of the collective land of these communities, with the help of “the perimetric and concentric armed protection of the Army’s Seventeenth Brigade and armed civilians in their factories and seed banks.” The goal of the armed raids and operations in this territory has been to intimidate the members of the Communities, so that they either join in the production of oil palm or evacuate the territory. The company’s preparation of the land in order to expand the crop continues to advance toward the community of Nueva Esperanza, near the place chosen by the members of the Communities to set up their “humanitarian refuge zones.” Moreover, under these circumstances, the cultivation of African palm and the exploitation of the natural resources on the Communities’ territory endanger the lives and survival of these families;

Pictures from a Solidarity walk in Uraba, Columbia including pictures of land taken over for palm growth.

Movements for sustainable palm oil include Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
and a new Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance led by Daryl Hannah, Willie Nelson and the King's of Pacific Biodiesel.