UN official calls for five-year ban on conversion of land for biofuels; says biofuels are “a total disaster for those who are starving”; to submit report to UN General Assembly on Oct 25th

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, in a report that will be submitted to the UN General Assembly on October 25, has called for a five-year ban on conversion of land for biofuels. The Special Rapporteur, Jean Ziegler of Switzerland, said that using land for biofuels would cause “massacres” and said that biofuels are “a total disaster for those who are starving”. “232 kg of corn is needed to make 50 litres of bioethanol,” Ziegler said on Thursday. “A child could live on that amount of corn for a year.” He blamed biofuels for the rise in food prices around the world. He said that second-generation biofuels, made from agricultural waste or non-agricultural products, would be available by the end of the five-year ban.

Ziegler’s report has strengthened considerably since last month, when it was expected that he would call for a ban on sugarcane-based ethanol. Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba are supporting the report.

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