Leaders from all over the world have gathered at the United Nations in New York City for the annual high-level debate before the General Assembly. Part of that included the fuel-versus-food debate.
In this article from the UN News Centre, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva disputed the idea that biodiesel and ethanol are the cause of high food prices and part of the reason for the recent world economic woes:
He stressed that the world was facing many other “equally serious matters,” including the food crisis, the spike in energy prices, the deadlock on talks to reform international trade, and the continuing degradation of the environment.
The President said Brazil’s own experience illustrated that sugar cane ethanol and biodiesel production can reduce global dependency on fossil fuels and at the same time create jobs, regenerate degraded land and expand food production.
“Attempts to tie high food prices to the dissemination of biofuels do not stand up to an objective analysis of reality,” he added, calling for a multilateral approach to solve the food and energy crises.