ALERT: Biofuels to Turn Kenya's Rich Tana Delta Wetlands into Ecological Wasteland
Let the Kenyan government know destroying ecosystems for toxic sugar monocultures is unethical, and ask them to please follow their own environmental laws, and permanently cancel the project
TAKE ACTION! Kenya has recently approved plans to destroy some 20,000 hectares of the globally important and ecologically sensitive Tana Delta for sugar and biofuel production [search]. Covering 130,000 hectares, these wetlands' diverse riverine vegetation -- forests, swamps, dunes, beaches and ocean -- will be forever altered by widespread vast fields of toxic, monoculture sugar cane and biofuel mill. The project threatens 350 species including birds, lions, hippos, nesting turtles, elephants, sharks, reptiles and the Tana red colobus, one of 25 primates facing extinction globally. Biofuel production worldwide continues to destroy crucial natural ecosystems [search] required for local and global sustainability. While hailed as a climate change remedy, this destruction of natural habitats for biofuel production almost always releases more carbon than saved. Using food such as sugar for fuel has raised food prices, leading to riots globally, including in Kenya. Please respectfully request the project be permanently cancelled. TAKE ACTION!
Comments
bio fuel is best made by oily vegetative waist or plants with high oil content. Turning sugar plants into bio fuel is not even economically smart, so there must be something basically wrong with the info. Same with infos about wheat and rice. VERY bad plants for the production of bio fuel, but anyway bio fuel nowadays is not really bio fuel but expanded mineral fuel. The same game, just painted a little green.
We can produce now fuel and energy on the base of waist water. This is you need to tell to everybody if you really care about our planet. We all screwed up on bio diesel which should have been produced by the consumer directly in his own garage (easy and cheap and safe). Now this is another chance and we have to break even the laws established which protecting the energy gangsters and government income business.
Do soemthing and tell the world you do. We all apreciate.
Horst Ludwig
President
NGO ASFAM
Spain
Posted by: Horst Ludwig | July 23, 2008 3:21 AM
Feed the oil companies.
Starve the poor.
Who do we really need?
Posted by: Bill Goldschein | July 23, 2008 7:58 AM
I have heard of some rather cool technology that can let people brew their own fuel out of sugar, water and yeast but we should not be promoting more monoculture sugar growing. Rather it would be better if people switched from drinking sugary sodas and junk food sweets and use that sugar for brewing transportation and maybe heating fuel.
Posted by: Donna Bonetti | July 23, 2008 9:52 AM
we are against the biofuels project in Kenya and need more information about advantages and disadvantages of biofuels to ecosystem and food securi
Posted by: Steve Itela | July 26, 2008 12:04 PM
Greedy developers and politicians do not respond well to pleas or petitions. If you want to stop this and other abuses there is only one way to do it, drive the price of clean energy down to a level where the polluters cannot compete. If ecologists would spend their money and their time building clean energy systems rather than trying to force others to do it for them we could make such projects unprofitable. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Preaching is easy, doing is hard, I practice what I preach so I know.
Posted by: Jerry Scovel | July 29, 2008 8:49 PM
Hmm... We have a track record of confronting policy-makers and getting conservation results, so I have to differ. I think you do the movement harm by oversimplifying. Almost certainly, many, many different things are going to have to happen. How will clean energy stop soil erosion, over-fishing and water scarcity? These are complex issues that need multi-faceted responses.
Regards,
Dr. Glen Barry
Posted by: Dr. Glen Barry
|
July 29, 2008 8:51 PM
The international community must pay Kenia, Brazil, Indonesia, etc for
protecting the wild lands.
Regards, Helmut
Posted by: Helmut | July 29, 2008 8:52 PM