The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, United Nations

The UN special rapporteur on the Right to Food on Friday sought to drum up support for his proposal for a five-year UN moratorium on converting arable land for food to the production of biofuels.

"It's a crime against humanity" to use land destined for food output for production of biofuels, Jean Ziegler of Switzerland, told reporters here.

He spelled out his plan for a UN moratorium that "would prohibit for five years this substitution." He noted that with rapid advances in scientific research, "in five years it will be possible to make biofuels and biodiesel from agricultural wastes."

Addressing a General Assembly panel Thursday, Ziegler, who is based in Geneva said he was "gravely concerned that biofuels will bring (more) hunger in their wake."

"The sudden, ill-conceived dash to convert food-such as maize, wheat, sugar and palm oil - into fuels is a recipe for disaster," he noted. "There are serious risks of creating a battle between food and fuel that will leave the poor and hungry in developing countries at the mercy of rapidly rising prices for food, land and water."