“The Dark Side of Biofuel”
Here is a scary example of an ostensibly green initiative - the growing of palm oil for biofuel in Colombia - having very perverse human rights effects.
Indeed, as one observer quoted in the article says, it is “the dark side of biofuel”.
Massacres and paramilitary land seizures behind the biofuel revolution
· Colombian farmers driven out as armed groups profit
· Lucrative ‘green’ crop less risky to grow than coca
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Armed groups in Colombia are driving peasants off their land to make way for plantations of palm oil, a biofuel that is being promoted as an environmentally friendly source of energy.
Surging demand for “green” fuel has prompted rightwing paramilitaries to seize swaths of territory, according to activists and farmers. Thousands of families are believed to have fled a campaign of killing and intimidation, swelling Colombia’s population of 3 million displaced people and adding to one of the world’s worst refugee crises after Darfur and Congo…