The biofuel policies pursued by the rich countries are pushing millions of people in the developing world into poverty, an Oxfam' study says, according to the Hindustan Times Thursday.
Oxfam, a group of non-governmental organizations, launched the report at a time when leaders of the industrialized countries are to discuss policies to mitigate the impact of climate change at a G-8 conference in Japan early July.
Quoting World Bank estimates, the study says the price of food has increased by 83 percent in the last three years, which is disastrous for the world's poor people. "The lives of about 290 million people are immediately threatened because of the food crises," the study says.
The study attributes 30 percent of the rise in food prices to bio-fuels and says it has pushed 30 million people into poverty already.
"Today's bio-fuels are not solving the climate or fuel crises but are instead contributing to food insecurity and inflation, hitting poor people the hardest," said Rob Balley, the author of the report.
Blaming the rich countries for the crises, the report says the subsidies for bio-fuels by the United States and Europe are taxing food for poor in the developing world.
The report recommends that the richer countries should freeze implementation of future bio-fuel mandates and dismantle subsidies and tax exemptions to bio-fuels to save more people from falling into poverty and accelerate the global food crisis.
(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2008)
