Africa: Biofuels and neo-colonialism

Analysis by Seif Madoffe for AllAfrica:

As climate change forces economies around the world to cap carbon emissions, investors are pouring cash into the development of biofuels, as a replacement for fossil fuels. Seif Madoffe writes that this has led to 'climate colonialism' - 'a massive land-grabbing scramble in Africa', as European companies - some with foreign aid money support - rapidly establish enormous carbon monoculture fields in tropical countries.

With reference to the Saadani National Park in Tanzania, Madoffe asks whether it is ethical for rich countries in the North to make 'renewable' carbon in places where it has serious negative impacts on poor people and tropical forests that will be cut down to create space for 'carbon fields' in monoculture plantations.

We are currently witnessing a new and massive land-grabbing scramble in Africa, unprecedented since the fall of colonialism. The 'justification' for this land-grabbing is supposedly that global climate change is threatening the entire world and that therefore huge tracts of land are required for the planting of biological crops which produce 'biofuels' which should replace 'fossil fuels' so as not to add net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

But this ignores the underlying fact that the vast majority of carbon dioxide is being produced by rich countries in the North who do not want to reduce their excessive fuel consumption and wastage levels. It is postulated by the proponents of 'biofuels' that enormous areas of unused (or under-used) land supposedly exist in Africa, which can be bought (cheaply) by commercial enterprises from the rich countries in the North. The logic is that rich countries can thus 'buy' their way out of a situation wherein they would otherwise have to drastically reduce their carbon dioxide production if indeed they really are serious about the threats posed by such emissions.

We shall explain why we consider these neo-colonial proposals for biofuels to be a new form of neo-colonialism - 'climate colonialism'.

Several questions arise - are there really enormous areas of unused land? No, this is a myth. Should the re-incorporation of carbon into plant material happen where the carbon was emitted originally, or could it be 'exported' from one country to another? This raises problems in the context of unequal power relations and unfair commercial deals. Should one make 'renewable' carbon in places where it has serious negative impacts on poor people and tropical forests that will be cut down to create space for 'carbon fields' in monoculture plantations? Furthermore, should this be done by taking over large tracts of agricultural land in poor countries, using huge quantities of water and polluting the soil, the rivers and coastal ecosystems - for example, giant plantation projects owned by European or American corporations, subsidised by 'development assistance' funds?

This scenario requires urgent consideration because European companies - some with foreign aid money support - are rapidly establishing enormous carbon monoculture fields in tropical countries. In Tanzania alone, there are ambitious proposals put forward by more than twenty European companies to establish several sugar, Jatropha and palm-oil plantations in order to produce biofuels. We will elucidate this by examining one such sugar-ethanol example from coastal Tanzania.

In Tanzania, Saadani National Park is situated at the coast, and it serves as an important connection between the coastal environment of the Indian Ocean and inland areas. This National Park is an area with unique fauna and flora. Nearby, in the Zaraninge Forest reserve in Bagamoyo district there is a proposed sugarcane plantation site between the two major rivers of the area, Wami and Ruvu. These rivers provide fresh water to large tracts of natural land and are situated close to the coast adjacent to coral reefs, mangroves and other biologically diverse marine environments. There are several villages inhabited by many thousands of farmers and pastoralists. An enormous 22,000 hectares of this area has been leased by a Swedish company, SEKAB, for the production of ethanol for Sweden, supposedly to make Sweden more 'eco-friendly'. SEKAB furthermore aims to expand to 400,000 hectares or more to include also areas in Rufiji.

What are the values found in the area that will be destroyed and what are the ecological and social consequences of this, both in Tanzania and in Europe?

SEKAB's project is one of several that are intended to be located near the coast so that ethanol or vegetable oil may be easily exported by sea. The plantations are also placed where there is good availability of fresh water, and in places remote enough to make it 'easier' to marginalise local villagers and move them out of their traditional areas at a low cost to the rich corporations (if indeed any compensation is paid at all).

When a corporation wants to undertake such a huge change in an area, as for instance converting it from tropical forest to sugarcane monoculture, an assessment needs to be done (called ESIA, environmental and social impact assessment) as well as seeking approvals from different levels of the government in the country in question. Such assessments are usually done by consultant agencies, which are often from the same country as the corporation proposing the project.

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