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Wetlands International Africa joins hands in Biofuel Coalition
17-Jun-2009
Over thirty civil society organisations join together to avert the effects of biofuel development on food security and sovereignty in African countries. The civil society coalition on biofuels supported by Wetlands International Africa and Action Aid will be officially launched on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at Senegal's USE’s Centre de Bopp in Dakar.
In a context marked by the global energy crisis, initiatives started by the United States and the European Union in order to ensure an increase in their production of combustibles from grain-based biofuels has contributed to a dramatically increased global demand for grains as well as most other agricultural products. This situation has also shown the risk that biofuel development at the industrial level places upon food security and wetlands for Africa.
More than 30 Senegalese civil society organisations, conscious of the risks industrial biofuel development could involve for communities, have formed a coalition to ensure active and informed civil society participation in the development and implementation of a national biofuel programme, which takes into account the imperatives of food security, energy security and environmental sustainability.
Read our publication: Biofuels in Africa
More information on Wetlands International's work on Biofuels.
Press contacts:
Mawade Wade, Policy Advisor, Wetlands International Africa Tel : 00 221 33 869 16 81
Fatou Mbaye, Programme Officer, Action Aid Tel : 00 221 - 33 869 79 44