WORLD FOOD AVAILABILITY AND BIOFUELS

Early day motion 1434, tabled 28 April 2008 by Rudi Vis (Labour). Signed by 31 members.

That this House notes the frequent reports of a worsening world food crisis; further notes the UK Chief Scientist's warning over this and that biofuel programmes have delivered a `major shock' to world food prices; further notes that over 25,000 people die of hunger-related causes daily, and that the caloric intake of the poorest falls by 0.5 per cent. with every one per cent. rise in food prices, according to the World Bank; further notes a World Food Programme spokesman's comment that there is now `a very great emergency crisis' in Asia, with rice prices rising 50 per cent. in one fortnight in this spring 2008, commodities being interlinked; further notes the dramatic upsurge in South American deforestation rates in 2007, linked to the food commodities shock; further notes the EU Joint Research Centre's comments in its report, Biofuels in the European Context, that `the costs of EU biofuels outweigh the benefits', irrespective of a switch towards second generation cellulosic biofuels, and that greater emissions savings can be achieved by not having a biofuel target, which may not even save emissions if the resulting deforestation and other consequences are considered; therefore echoes the calls by the Environmental Audit Committee and Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser for a moratorium on the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation; further calls on the Government to suspend support for directly target-based incentives for biofuels in European legislation, namely in the EU Renewable Energy Directive and the EU Fuel Quality Directive; and urges a wider pullback in biofuel programmes, including in the US, in order to achieve substantial food price rise reversals.

Signatures by party: Labour 20, Liberal Democrat 3, Conservative 2, Social Democratic and Labour Party 2, DUP 1, Independent 1, Plaid Cymru 1, UKIP 1.