Save Tana Delta wetlands from destruction for biofuels

The Kenyan government has approved plans for a large sugar plantation for ethanol in a unique and biodiverse wetland - Tana Delta.

Tana Delta is home to 350 endangered species, including nesting turtles, hippos, sharks and the Tana red colobus which is one of 25 primate species facing global extinction. It is a highly diverse ecosystem with forests, swamps, beaches and dunes. 20,000 hectares are to be drained and converted to sugar cane, with pollution from agrochemicals and sugar mill effluents threatening a much larger area. According to the RSPB “this decision is a very serious blow to Kenyan wildlife and to wildlife worldwide since many migrating species use the Tana Delta in internationally important numbers.” Furthermore, an important grazing area on which pastoralist communities depend will be destroyed. There has been major international and national opposition to the scheme.

Click here to take part in this email alert.



Agrofuel company violently represses communities in Guatemala

In Guatemala, sugar cane and oil palm expansion for agrofuels is linked to serious human rights abuses, to the eviction of indigenous communities, and to environmental destruction, including deforestation. In January this year, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) approved funding for the Guatemalan government to develop a national biofuel strategy which will increase private investment in ethanol and biodiesel. Please write to the IADB and ask them to immediately suspend this programme, following serious recent human rights abuses linked to agrofuel companies with apparent government connivance.

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Destruction of the Tanoé Swamps Forest in Côte d'Ivoire for palm oil

Please click here to take part in email alert against the destruction of Tanoe Swamps Forest in Cote d'Ivoire for palm oil. This is one of the last remaining old growth forests in Cote d'Ivoire and the last refuge for three highly endangered primates - the Miss Waldron Colobus, the Geoffroy's colobus and the Diana roloway - as well as home to many endangered plant species.

The alert is aimed at Unilever: They are linked to the company which has started destroying the forest, PALM-CI, as a stakeholder and customer, and they are also represented on their board.

There is also a separate international petition for the protection of Tanoe Swamps Forest at www.manifeste-fmt.org/english.php.


Agrofuels on Stolen Lands Continue to Threaten Colombian Rainforests and Communities

Please take part in an Ecological Internet alert against human rights abuses, evictions and rainforest destruction for agrofuels in Colombia.

Click here to send an email to the Colombian government.