The Dutch cabinet should forbid the use of palm oil and soya oil as biofuel in the Netherlands, unless it meets certain conditions, according to the directors of the development and environmental organisations Novib, Milieudefensie and Both Ends in a letter recently submitted to the newspaper NRC Handelsblad.
These environmental organisations state that exports may not compete with food supplies in the areas of origin, and that there must be no negative consequences for the balance of nutrients in the soil. There should also be no conflict with the local population over land rights, and special ecosystems (such as tropical rain forests and savannahs for plantations) may not be destroyed.
According to the letter's authors, growing oil palms and soya in southeast Asia and South America often leads to irretrievable damage of vulnerable ecosystems. Finally, the unskilled or unnecessary use of fertilisers or pesticides should be banned. |
