Agrofuels - good or bad?

According to some, the production and use of agrofuels will help to tackle the climate crisis, while providing new opportunities for farmers. Others emphasize the risks to food security, biodiversity and new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One thing is clear, there is an urgent need for more information regarding the effects of agrofuel production on people and the environment. Policymakers, however, are impatient and take decisions on the basis of assumptions, while their underlying motives are not always properly communicated. These decisions can have grave consequences.

In response to this, a group of Dutch research institutions and NGOs within DPRN created a ‘knowledge platform’ whose aim is to contribute to an overview of the available (scientific) knowledge, as well as the interests and motives of the various stakeholders. Currently no such overview exists. Creating one will hopefully lead to better informed policymakers and businesses.

The platform is referred to as the ’agrofuels platform’, and consists of Both Ends, IUCN-NL, AMIDSt/UvA, Cordaid, Mekon Ecology, Alterra, ETC, WUR Law and Governance Group, CML/Leiden University and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We decided to use the term agrofuels, because we are interested in the production of energy crops on agricultural lands, while the term agrofuels also covers fuels produced from waste products, algae, etc.