Biofuels Watch: African Land-Grab Deals Questioned by Stacy Feldman - May 21st, 2009
Researchers revealed that foreign companies are buying or leasing vast chunks of land in Africa and elsewhere for their own use. In fact, up to 50 million acres have been sold off or soon will be. That's equivalent to about 25 percent of all the farmland in Europe.
Despite widespread research indicating that growing biofuels on Africa's 'idle' lands could help to starve the continent, the practice remains rampant, according to a new study.
The report is the work of the Washington, D.C.-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a research center funded by 64 governments, private foundations and global organizations.
Researchers revealed that foreign companies are buying or leasing vast chunks of land in Africa and elsewhere for their own use. In fact, up to 50 million acres have been sold off or soon will be. That's equivalent to about 25 percent of all the farmland in Europe.
Then, we share with you biochar and other issues, tied to Biofuel Watch/UK
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Earth Beat Radio's Mike Tidwell will be on KYRS, Spokane, Thin Air Community Radio,
Feb. 3 at 3 PST, http://www.kyrs.org/, 92.3 FM, and then rebroadcast Feb. 5, 6 a.m.
President Obama sharply reverses the Bush administration’s policies on transportation emissions – and appoints an international climate negotiator. Meanwhile, scientists say that even if all carbon dioxide emissions stop today – global warming will continue for a thousand years.
Joining host Daphne Wysham discusses Obama’s new policies on climate change is David Bookbinder, Senior Attorney with the Sierra Club, Tony Massaro, Vice President of Legal Affairs for the League of Conservation Voters and with the California perspective, Danielle Fugere, West Coast Regional Program Director for the Friends of the Earth.
Then we discuss two possible techno-fixes for global warming – seeding the ocean with iron filings and biochar. Discussing ocean seeding is Jim Thomas a researcher with the ETC Group in Montreal, Canada.
ETC is dedicated to the conservation and sustainable advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights. Joining him is Paul Epstein, the associate director for the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School.
Discussing biochar is Rachel Smolker with the Global Forest Coalition and, the leading scientific voice on the possibilities of biochar, Johannes Lehmann, Professor of soil fertility management at Cornell University.
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