Biofuels seems to be a very good option in the face of climate change and declining fossil fuel reserves, but it is raising environmental concerns. Far from being sustainable, the spread of what is more accurately called ‘agrofuels’ – liquid fuel produced from biomass grown in large-scale monocultures – is compromising biodiversity and fuelling the issue of human rights violations. As industry expands, it is encouraging intensified, industrial agriculture, providing a new promotional vehicle for GM crops, and posing a serious threat to food sovereignty. The argument that the ‘biofuels’ will mitigate climate change is unproven – indeed, the destruction of rainforests, peat lands and other ecosystems to make way for agrofuels plantations may well accelerate global warming. It is discovered that the stampede into biofuels is causing enormous environmental and social damage, much more than what is realized earlier. Because of massive use of biofuels, ecological balance is being destroyed and thousands of indigenous and peasant communities are being thrown off their land. Therefore, biofuels is no more considered to be a viable solution in Latin America. Agrofuels is a much better option in this scenario. The Government of India is taking initiatives to plant jatropha in over 14 million hectares of land. With this background, the book tries to examine the positive and negative aspects of agrofuels throughout the globe in terms of opportunities and challenges.
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