Hoge olieprijzen stimuleren biofuel productie en hoge voedselprijzen zouden graan als input te duur kunnen maken.
Tot dusverre heb ik de volgende artikelen gevonden (en VET weergegeven wat het effect zou indiceren):
BIOENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE DILEMMA OF FOOD SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE BRAZILIAN SAVANNAH; MARCUS VINICIUS ALVES FINCO, WERNER DOPPLER (2010)
"The results point towards a positive relationship between oil seed production and deforestation and A NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OIL SEED ACTIVITY AND LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION. THE LATTER RESULT, THEREFORE, EXACERBATES LOCAL FOOD INSECURITY."
FOOD VS. FUEL: GROWING GRAIN FOR FOOD IS MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT; SCIENCEDAILY (APR. 20, 2010)
Using productive farmland to grow crops for food instead of fuel is more energy efficient, Michigan State University scientists concluded, after analyzing 17 years' worth of data to help settle the food versus fuel debate. "IT'S 36 PERCENT MORE EFFICIENT TO GROW GRAIN FOR FOOD THAN FOR FUEL,"
FAO sees demand, biofuels, oil fuelling food prices (2010)
GROWING BIOFUELS DEMAND SPURRED BY MANDATORY TARGETS AND INCENTIVES IN SOME COUNTRIES "IRRESPECTIVE OF MARKET CONDITIONS" WOULD BOOST PRICES OF MAIZE AND VEGETABLE OILS USED AS FEEDSTOCK FOR BIODIESEL AND BIOETHANOL AND, IN TURN, OF FOOD COMMODITIES.
En via WIKI: FOOD VS FUEL
A NOTE ON RISING FOOD PRICES (DONALD MITCHELL (JULY 2008) WORLD BANK)
"The increase in internationally traded food prices from January 2002 to June 2008 was
caused by a confluence of factors, but the most important was the large increase in
biofuels production from grains and oilseeds in the U.S. and EU."
... It is difficult, if not impossible, to compare these estimates with estimates from other studies because of different methodologies, widely different time periods considered, different prices compared, and different food products examined, however MOST OTHER STUDIES HAVE ALSO RECOGNIZED BIOFUELS PRODUCTION AS A MAJOR FACTOR DRIVING FOOD PRICES."
"The large increases in biofuels production in the U.S. and EU were supported by
subsidies, mandates, and tariffs on imports. Without these policies, biofuels production
would have been lower and food commodity price increases would have been smaller.
Biofuels production from sugar cane in Brazil is lower-cost than biofuels production in
the U.S. or EU and has not raised sugar prices significantly because sugar cane
production has grown fast enough to meet both the demand for sugar and ethanol.
Removing tariffs on ethanol imports in the U.S. and EU would allow more efficient
producers such as Brazil and other developing countries, including many African
countries, to produce ethanol profitably for export to meet the mandates in the U.S. and
EU. Biofuels policies which subsidize production need to be reconsidered in light of their
impact on food prices."
PLACING THE 2006/08 COMMODITY PRICE BOOM IN PERSPECTIVE (2010 STUDY THE WORLD BANK):
"Biofuels played some role too, but much less than initially thought."
TIME, AFTER THE OIL CRISIS, A FOOD CRISIS? (2007):
On the demand side, one of the key issues is biofuels. Biofuels, made from food crops such as corn, sugar cane, and palm oil, are seen as easing the world's dependence on gasoline or diesel. But when crude oil is expensive, as it is now, these alternative energy sources can also be sold at market-competitive prices, rising steeply in relation to petroleum.
With ONE-QUARTER OF THE U.S. CORN HARVEST IN 2007 DIVERTED TOWARDS BIOFUEL PRODUCTION, the attendant rise in cereal prices has already had an impact on the cost and availability of food. Critics worry that the gold rush toward biofuels is taking away food from the hungry. Jean Ziegler, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on The Right to Food, recently described it as a "crime against humanity" to convert food crops to fuel, calling for a five-year moratorium on biofuel production.
BIOFUELS BLUNDER: MASSIVE DIVERSION OF U.S. GRAIN TO FUEL CARS IS RAISING WORLD FOOD PRICES, RISKING POLITICAL INSTABILITY Briefing before U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chair, June 13, 2007
"...TURNING NEARLY 30 PERCENT OF NEXT YEAR'S U.S. GRAIN HARVEST INTO FUEL FOR AUTOMOBILES. This unprecedented diversion of the world's leading grain crop to the production of fuel will affect food prices everywhere, risking political instability."
"The U.S. corn crop, accounting for 40 percent of the global harvest and supplying nearly 70 percent of the world's corn imports, looms large in the world food economy."
"In the past, food price rises have usually been weather related and always temporary. This situation is different. As more and more fuel ethanol distilleries are built, world grain prices are starting to move up toward their oil-equivalent value in what appears to be the beginning of a long-term rise."
"As the leading grain producer, grain exporter, and ethanol producer, the United States is in the driver's seat. We need to make sure that in trying to solve one problem-our dependence on imported oil-we do not create a far more serious one: chaos in the world food economy."
Vereist verder onderzoek, maar ik vermoed dat "biofuel from grains" (itt biofuels van plantaardig afval) wel degelijk een effect op de voedselprijzen hebben gehad. Naast slecht weer (klimaat), toegenomen vraag (stijgende welvaart) en quantitative easing.
Als iemand hier een goede studie over kent, dan verneem ik dat graag.
