FINAL DECLARATION

INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR: AGROFUELS AS AN OBSTACLE TO FOOD AND ENERGY
SOVEREIGNTY

São Paulo, 17-19 November 2008

The undersigned organisations and social movements from Brazil,
Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Ecuador,
Paraguay, Tailand, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and the United
States, who have come together in São Paulo from 17 to 19 November
2008;

We fundamentally disagree with the strategy to promote agrofuels: in
our opinion, agrofuels are not driving development, nor are they
sustainable. This strategy represents an obstacle to the necessary
structural changes in our system of production and consumption, in
agriculture and in the energy matrix, changes that pose real
solutions to the challenges of climate change.

We affirm that:

The agroindustrial model, in which agrofuels are included, is
intrinsically unsustainable as it leads to the expansion of
monocultures, concentration of land, intensive use of agrochemicals,
the overexploitation of natural resources that are common heritage,
such as biodiversity, water and soil. The production of agrofuels
represents a serious threat to food production. Crops grown for
energy, regardless of whether they are food crops or not, compete for
agricultural land and for water.

The production of agrofuels at industrial scale drives the
agricultural frontier, and the expansion of agribusiness - the
accumulated effects of this model are the main driver of the
destruction of ecosystems world wide; in Brazil they are responsible
for the destruction of the Amazon, the Cerrado and other ecosystems.

In Brazil, the sugar cane ethanol sector sustains itself only because
of state subsidies: The government programs meant to promote
agrofuels have historically been characterised by direct government
incentives and subsidies (such as public financing by BNDES, to a
large extent using Workers' Aid Funds, FAT) and indirectly (such as
no punishment for tax evasion, and debt cancellations).

The sugar cane ethanol sector enjoys the government's support
regarding the disrespect for labour and environmental laws: The
impacts of ethanol production in Brazil include: over-exploitation
and degrading working conditions and the use of slave labour;
contamination of soils, air and water and reduced biodiversity. Also,
increased land prices and land concentration, that further prohibit
land reform programmes and promote the brutal invasion of territories
of traditional populations and indigenous communities, and of
expropriation of lands of small and medium size producers, thereby
threathening the production of food that can be consumed in the
country. More land ends up in foreign hands, either through selling
or contracting, for the production of agrofuels. This is a recent and
very worrying phenomenon, taking for granted the availability of
agricultural land and the structural conditions for food production.

We denounce the strategy to export the agro-energy model of the
Brazilian government internationally, through action by its
Ministries, especially the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and its
financial and research institutions, like BNDES and EMBRAPA, that
will reproduce the impacts and problems of this sector in countries
of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

We question the strategy to expand agrofuel production through the
international market: We radically oppose the technology agreement
between Brazil and the United States, that aims to harmonise
standards to promote ethanol as a global commodity. Union and the
United States that will boost the demand for land to produce
agrofuels in Southern countries.

We alert that nor land planning, nor environmental and social
criteria will make the industrial agro-export model sustainable: The
proposals for social and environmental certification of agrofuels,
looking at different experiences (like FSC, RSPO, RTSB), do not
reduce but rather hide the impacts, serving largely as an instrument
to legitimise the international trade in agrofuels. The agro-
ecological zoning for sugar cane as proposed by the Brazilian
government, as well as the spreading of the concept of 'non-
utilised', 'degraded' or 'marginal' lands,legitimises the
expropriation of territories for the expansion of monocultures,
making social conflicts invisible.

We reaffirm our battle of more than one decade against Genetically
Modified Organisms (GMOs): the advance of agrofuels, of 'second
generation' ethanol and the production of 'bioplastics' implicate a
structural component of modern biotechnology and synthetic biology,
factors that present yet another threat to biodiversity.

The current systems of production and consumption, as promoted by
countries of the North, is unsustainable and puts life on this planet
at risk: Facing the structural crisis of the capitalist system,
linking the issues of energy, environment, food, financing and
values, means we have to rethink our model for society and
civilisation.

We defend energy sovereignty as an alternative proposal, that does
not jeopardise food sovereignty:

Energy and food sovereignty is the right of the people to plan,
produce and control energy and food in their territories to meet
their needs. We need a new way to organise our ways of life in
society, and the relations between country side and cities.

This requires a food production system based on land reform and
adapted to the ecological conditions of each particular biome, as a
real alternative to the problem of over-exploitation of rural workers
and the concentration and access to land; the strenthening of small
farmers and local economies; appreciating traditions and the cultural
aspects of food; decreasing the distance between production and
consumption, and solidary trade relations. This system is also less
dependent, more efficient and possibly self-sufficient in terms of
energy. It is more appropriate and resistent and presents a real
solution to climate change, caused by the oil-dependent
agroindustrial model, which is again reproduced by the agrofuel
strategy that we are opposing.

It requires an energy and transport system based on the
rationalisation of the energy economy, through changing our
consumption patterns, reducing global trade flows of goods and
energy, promoting transport models that prioritise collective, public
and good quality transport instead of individual vehicles;
substituting fossil fuels for renewable energy sources produced in a
decentralised manner in order to meet local demand; and technical
assistence, development and research directed to the interests of
people.

The price of energy should be based on real production costs and not
be subject to financial speculation. Neither should it be under the
control of large corporations.

Food and energy sovereignty is based on principles of democracy and
decentralisation, with popular participation in planning and decision
making and food and energy production, including access and control
over public funds. It is also based on solidarity between the
peoples, considering varying conditions, needs and solutions
appropriate for each country or region.

Energy and food are people's rights, given to us by the earth, the
water and the diversity of nature, and cannot be treated as
commodities.