Public Lecture: Bio Fuel: An Alarm Bell on Food Security?
Toxics Link’s Environment & Health Public Lecture Series
Toxics Link, in collaoration with the India International Center, invites concerned citizens to a Pubilc Lecture on “Bio-Fuel: An Alarm bell on food security?”
The concept of bio-fuel is fast gaining popularity, as the world tries to become progressively environment – friendly. Worldwide awareness about green house gas emissions, global warming as well as the spiraling oil prices pushes us to seek for alternate energy sources. Experts claim bio-fuel to be the only way out. Conversely this will stake a claim on the food stock of the world.
The ever-growing food prices and the food related riots reported from countries like Haiti and Egypt indicate that the situation has already gone from bad to worse. Still more and more land has been converted for bio- fuel cultivation instead of food and million of tons of corn; sugar cane and soya are getting converted to fuel leaving millions to starve.
In India too, cultivation of Jatropha spreads to fertile land, which were earlier, used for food grains. To meet the target of reducing fossil fuel consumption of about 20% by 2011, 98 million acres of land is being used for Jatropha cultivation.
Is bio-fuel playing such havoc on the food security of the world? Can bio-fuel replace the fossil fuel completely and save our planet from global warming and further disasters?
Date: 23rd May, 2008
Time: 6.30 PM
Venue: Conference Room 1, Indian International Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Panelists:
- V. Rahguraman, Principal Adviser, Energy & Environment, CII
- Shalini Bhuttani, Regional Programme Officer, GRAIN
- Dr. Ramesh Singh Chouhan, Bio-fuel expert, Dragon EXIM India Pvt. Ltd.
Moderated by Ravi Agarwal, Director, Toxics Link
RSVP : Pragya Majumder
T: 24320711, 24328006
W: www.toxicslink.org
