Food for Fuel
July 1st 2008, the new ordinance on taxation of mineral fuels came into force. The following agro-fuels are exempt from taxes: cane or corn-based ethanol, as well as diesel extracted from jatropha, rapeseed, soy or palm oil. The United States and the European Union have already been granting them direct and indirect subsidies for years. In the future, traditional fuels will have to be blended with a minimal percentage of agro-fuels.
Does this constitute a sustainable solution to solve carbon dioxide emissions and energy resources problems? Or a dangerous menace for ancient forests, biodiversity and developing countries' food sovereignty?
Marguerite Contat Hickel, director of SwissAid Geneva, and Valentina Hemmeler Maïga from the European coordination of Via Campesina and member of Uniterre, will address these questions during this workshop and explain what concrete possibilities for action exist, in our everyday life or with organizations like SwissAid Geneva.
SWISSAID
One of Switzerland’s leading aid organisations, SwissAid was founded in 1948. It is involved in cooperative development projects in nine countries, try to influence policy-making on development in Switzerland, and inform people about the causes of poverty and underdevelopment. SwissAid has 84 staff worldwide, 29 of whom work in Switzerland.
VIA CAMPESINA
Via Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. Via campesina defends the values and the basic interests of its members. It is an autonomous, pluralist and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic, or other type of affiliation. The members are from 56 countries from Asia, Africa, urope, and the Americas.
UNITERRE
Uniterre is the Swiss peasant syndicate founded as an association in 195. It aims to defend the moral and economic interests of all types of farmers in Switzerland.
www.uniterre.ch