Rush for biofuels threatens starvation on a global scale

The rush towards biofuels is threatening world food production and the lives of billions of people, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser said a conference on sustainability in London on 9 March 2008. He added, "It's very hard to imagine how we can see the world growing enough crops to produce renewable energy and at the same time meet the enormous demand for food."

Biofuels have already contributed to the rapid rise in international wheat prices and Professor Beddington cautioned that it was likely to be only a matter of time before shoppers in the United Kingdom faced big price rises because of the soaring cost of feeding livestock.

He said that the prospect of food shortages over the next 20 years was so acute that politicians, scientists and farmers must begin to tackle it immediately.

To read coverage of his speech see here, or here.