evidence-based policy

eldis - Mind the gap: from evidence to policy impact - conference proceedings

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:09:01 +0000

The 3ie conference, Mind the Gap: From Evidence to Policy Impact, brought to centre stage the need to address this “tension between learning and ...

ebpdn - ebpdn May Newsletter

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:33:30 +0000

In our first issue, we are focusing on evidence-informed policy processes in Africa. We pay particular attention to Tanzania, where the ebpdn stewards had this years annual meeting. Inside, Ajoy Datta sets the scene by describing recent research from ODIs RAPID Programme on think tanks in Africa. Vivian Kazi, from ESRF in Tanzania, describes the annual stewards meeting. Cecilia Oppenheim reports back from a parallel meeting held in Dar es Salaam on the use of research in policy processes. In the newsletter, we also introduce several permanent features. Enrique Mendizabal takes to the Community Soapbox in an article that poses an important question to the bridging research and policy agenda: could our efforts to communicate research be leading to the deskilling of policy-makers? We also have a Stewards Corner, where our stewards from Latin America and Southeast Asia take the opportunity to introduce themselves. Finally, our section called Community News highlights events and resources that you may have missed on the platform. In this first issue we will tell you a bit more about the new website and describe some of the features and future plans.

wdev-newsblog.blogspot - (Bio-)fueling injustice? EU driving global biofuel production

Rainer Falk — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:34:00 +0000

The European Union’s biofuel policy continues to threaten food security and increase land grabs in Africa, shows a new report by the EuropAfrica platform and FIAN, (Bio)fueling injustice: Europe’s responsibility to counter climate change without provoking land grabbing and compounding food insecurity in Africa. The report is released as the EU is set to review its biofuel policy in 2012 in line with environmental impacts. “Imported industrial biofuels for European renewable energy exacerbate land grabs in Africa and fuel violations of the right to food”, says Nora McKeon coordinator of EuropAfrica. “The EU has to realise that its energy and agricultural policies have global impacts, often affecting the most vulnerable in poor countries. Decision makers cannot ignore the evidence; it’s time for a total re-think of biofuel policy.”

The report shows that 66% of the land grabs in Africa are intended for biofuel production, some 18.8 million hectares. Among the biggest investors are companies from Europe, as case studies from Senegal and Mali show, with European investments likely to increase further. “We want to grow food for people in Africa, not for fuelling cars in Europe. The switch to biofuel crops in Senegal has been a failure. Productivity has fallen sharply since we started trying the Jatropha biofuel crop, and many farmers are feeling cheated. We call on the European Union to drop its renewable energy target for biofuels until measures are in place which ensure that the right to food is not violated”, says Marius Dia, of CNCR (Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des ruraux du Sénégal).

Despite contrary claims, the EU is highly dependent on imports. Already in 2008, the EU imported almost 40 percent of its biofuels or biofuel feedstock. The study further finds that the EU and its Member States violate their human rights obligations by not having conducted an adequate assessment of the impact of the biofuel policy on human rights and by not regulating European companies and financial actors. According to Blandine Bouniol, Policy Coordinator at CONCORD, the European NGO Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs, the EU’s good intention to fight climate change by promoting renewable energy is turning into a disaster. Europe is outsourcing its production, getting a ready supply of biofuels at the expense of the environment and people in the developing world.