Petition against biofuels in Switzerland
Pro Natura/FoE Switzerland, together with a large coalition of environment, development, and progressive farmers organisations, today submitted a petition against the development of agrofuels in Switzerland. The petition, signed by 62,000 people, was submitted to the Swiss government in Berne.
The petition urges the government to establish strict criteria for authorising the production and the import of agrofuels, which should clearly address the effects of indirect land use change and recognise food sovereignty rights.
The petition comes just in time to put pressure on the parliament to support changes in the law that have to be approved in the following months.
As a first success, the development of a new plant in Delemont (Jura), aimed at producing ethanol from Brazilian sugarcane has been abandoned by its promoters.