international food crisis: is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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sunway college's student's presentation slides for english subject.TRANSCRIPT
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Topic:
International Food Crisis
Good morning everyone!
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Presentation Outline
• Research Question and Thesis Statement
• Introduction
• Argument 1 + Opposing view + Refutation
• Argument 2 + Opposing view + Refutation
•Recommendations
• Conclusions
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Research Question & Thesis
Statement
RQ: Is the demand for biofuel driving
more people into hunger and
starvation?
TS: YES. The demand for biofuel is driving more people
into hunger and starvation because it contributes to increasedfood prices and climate change.
Globally
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Hunger and starvation?
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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• Fuel made from biological material such as:- – Palm
– Corn
– Jatropha – Soy
• Fermenting these materials produce ethanol
which can be used
to power engines
Biofuel?
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Biofuels have generations?
1st gen:
from food crops
2nd gen:
from wastes of food crops (husks, stalks)
3rd gen:
from specially grown algae
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• As more and more farmers in the US sell their crops
to biofuel companies instead of the food market, food
supply decrease.
• If supply decrease, price increases.
Why do I say yes?
Demand for biofuel increases food prices
US is thebiggest
producer of corn
“People with cars (the minority) have more purchasing power than
the majority who are living in subsistence level….car drivers canpay more for the same crops than the poor”, says Santa-Barbara,PhD, Director of the Sustainable Scale Project.
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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• And if one food crop say corn, increase in price, people will switch to a cheaper
alternative.
• But this increase in demand is not met with anincrease in supply thus price of the alternative
also increases.
• This creates a domino effect, from one foodcrop to another, even for meat.
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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People from poor countries spend 80% of
monthly income on food:
• With an increase in price, many are forced to
skip meals and go hungry.
Most families only make US$100-200 per month
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Opposing view:
• Fuel crops do not compete with food crops in the
market because
– Jatropha and field corn not consumed by people
– 2nd and 3rd gen biofuel production
Well, maybe. But..
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Refutation
• Some people do depend on field corn when there is
no sweet corn
• Technology is way behind for feasible production of
2nd & 3rd gen biofuel• Still displaces food crops from agricultural land
reducing supply
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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And..
• In 2011 alone, US earmarked 40% of its corn
production into producing ethanol
– equivalent to 15% of global corn production
• This amount is enough to feed 400 million
people for one whole year!
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Besides increasing food prices?
Actually contributes to climate change leading to droughts.
• Why?
– Requires large plots of land
– Requires fertilizers
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Planting requires land
Since most of the available land is used for
agricultural purposes, biofuel companies expand
to forests and peat lands
The soil in these areas store large amounts of
carbon
By converting them to plant crops, these carbons
are released to the atmosphere causing global
warming
To repay the carbon debt takes:
423 years in Malaysia and Indonesia319 years in Brazil and the Amazon
This is how long it takes for biofuel to effectively
reduce carbon emissions. Worth the wait?
Of course, companies could
always use land which isalready converted to plant
crops, then there would be
no debt.
However, it would only
displace the existing crops
to new lands leading to the
same situation.
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Needs fertilizer
• Requires large amounts of nitrogen fertilizers
– Which releases nitrogen oxides to atmosphere
• 300 times more harmful to environment than other
GHGs
Food alone
Food + fuel
Just to fill a 95L tank with pure ethanol requires 250kg of
corn
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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So what’s the relation with hunger?
• Slight increase in global temperatures
drastically changes rainfall patterns
– Land become dry and arid
– Yield of rain-dependent crops drop
• Expected drop of (in the next 10 years):
– 50% in Africa
– 18% in cereal production in India
• Without rain, farmers are unable to grow much
leading to reduced food supply and income
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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But isn’t biofuel supposed to be
greener?• Yes, the fuel on its own is greener but reports
that show an overall reduction of GHGs do not
take into account planting of the fuel crops.• Biofuel companies only advertises its benefits.
Who wouldn’t?
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Recommendations
• Nations should not lock in on biofuel as the main
alternative to fossil fuel
– Impossible to meet European Union’s target of 10% total
energy from biofuel by 2020 sustainably
• Biofuel companies should spend more on developing
better technology
• Reduce energy consumption especially on
transportation – Better public transportation
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Conclusion
• With current technology, biofuel does not look good
but it holds great potential in the future as it is a
renewable energy source.
• As for now, it is not worth putting so many peoplethrough hunger just for an alternative energy source.
7/14/2019 International Food Crisis: Is the demand for biofuel driving more people into hunger and starvation?
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Reference list:
Canadian Foodgrains Bank (2008), „Can a hungry world afford biofuels?’, viewed 13 February 2012,<http://www.foodgrainsbank.ca/uploads/Can%20a%20hungry%20world%20afford%20biofuels.pdf>
One World (2011), „Food security guide‟, viewed 15 February 2012,
<http://uk.oneworld.net/guides/food_security>
ProCon.org (2009), „Is biofuel production a major cause of the world food crisis?’ , viewed 15 February2012, <http://alternativeenergy.procon.org/view.questions.php?issueID=000292&subissueID=000749>
Rice, T. (2010), 'Meals per gallon', ActionAid UK , viewed 15 February, 2012,<http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/meals_per_gallon_final.pdf>
Spiegel Online (2008), 'Global food prices: the fury of the poor', 14 April, viewed 13 February 2012,
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,547198,00.html>
The New York Times, 2008, 'International: food crisis', 14 April, viewed 13 February 2012,<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/news/14iht-14oxan-food.11967155.html>
World-Crisis.net (2008), „Global food crisis‟, viewed 15 February 2012,
<http://www.world-crisis.net/food-crisis.html>