Comments Biopact has made

A note from Biopact

Thanks to Ron Steenblik for animating this lively debate.

Some suspect there to be a 'lobby' behind our organisation-in-the-making, which is not the case. The Biopact is a volunteer effort, and soon our finances will be publicly available, as we are registering the group as a non-profit.

Please allow us to quickly sketch the context in which Biopact came into existence. It might take away some of the suspicion.

Biopact was created in late 2005 by a group of young academics in Belgium, who were doing work on the role of the extractive industries in Central Africa, most notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As anthropologists they have had field work experience in the country.

Between 1998 and 2003, the DRC experienced the most underreported and most deadly conflict since the Second World War. The country fell prey to an obscene war over natural resources.

The young researchers however felt that against the background of such a tragedy, it is impossible to stick to mere academic analyses. Instead, a personal and moral engagement settled in. Meanwhile, the DRC opened a difficult stabilisation and reconstruction phase, which resulted in the first successful democratic elections the country has seen since 1960. Instead of analysing past resource conflicts, discussions now shifted to new opportunities that could potentially bring stability and economic growth. But the past works as a guideline.

At that time, early debates about biofuels and their global potential took place at the university from which the researchers stemmed. This university - the Catholic University of Leuven - has a longstanding relationship with its sister-universities in the DRC (Université Lovanium).

Soon the two subjects collided. Bioenergy was identified as a sector that could help alleviate poverty and revive the agricultural sector in the country, which had totally collapsed and brought farmers back to mere subsistence levels.

The DRC once was a large agricultural exporter, self-sufficient in food. Today, it is an agricultural importer, with people chronically and structurally undernourished. This is a real scandal.

It is against this background that talks begun with counterparts in the DRC to create some kind of a conceptual 'pact', whereby European and Central African actors would be informed about the pros and cons of investing in an export-oriented biofuels sector, which stands to bring in substantial amounts of income to both local farmers and the state, but which also entails risks that must be analysed carefully.

Meanwhile, the debate about biofuels from the developing world has become more mainstream. We regret the at times single-minded focus of some media on deforestation and food-versus-fuel. These issues are extremely important, but they should not prevent us from recognizing the equally important opportunity the biofuels sector holds for 'development' in the South.

Analyses by independent scientists (unless one would call the International Energy Agency or the International Institute for Environment and Development or the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation "lobbies"), show that biofuels production in the South can precisely help tackle further environmental degradation, and that they can alleviate poverty and enhance food security on a large scale. Numerous articles on our website translate these scientific findings to a broader audience, we hope.

At times, we show our dissatisfaction with single-minded mainstream analyses and we rely on these more objective assessments instead, pushing them into a message that some do not like to hear because it deconstructs commonly held opinions.

Quite frankly, knowing what we know - that the average Congolese farmer survives on less than US$120 per year, the lowest income in the world, while he should be self-sufficient in food and could benefit from growing biofuels for export - we want to refrain from taking a principled 'ideological' position and we want to remain as pragmatic as possible. Any economic and development paradigm that can bring an extra dollar to Central-African farmers is worth looking into, no matter whether it comes from free trade afficionados or from socialists. We are against free trade if it diminishes the opportunity for the South to develop (see our numerous articles on subsidies, tariffs and Doha); we are in favor if it results in the contrary. But things of course are never that simple.

Those who have the time to scroll through our articles will see that we try to present many different perspectives. But we most definitely prefer nuance over a single-minded focus on the potential risks and benefits of biofuels in the South. The matter is highly complex, and only an ongoing debate and scientific analysis can set out anchor points for concrete action. We are glad to be a part of this debate, and we appreciate all points of view, provided they take into account the realities on the ground of people in the South.

Kind regards and thanks for participating in the discussion,

Biopact Team (a list of our 'members' will be available soon)On A message from Kenya and Biopact posted 2 years, 9 months ago 48 Responses