UN Secretary-General calls for review of land-use conversion for biofuels, bowing to international and UN food agency pressure

April 9, 2008

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has called for a review of land-use conversion by biofuel producers, in response to the global increase in food prices. Ban, who placed climate change at the top of the UN agenda, is responding to internal pressure from UN food agencies facing a crisis over rising prices.

The Guardian reports that some senior UN officials are attacking the Secretary-General for being “out of touch” and not knowing “what is really going on in our agencies”. Ban said “This steeply rising food price is a new phenomenon,” he said. “We have only seven years left to meet the target of 2015,” referring to the Millenium Development Goal of halving global hunger by 2015, adding “This is very serious.”

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Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under International