Report: Aid donors’ flagship investment deal causing hardship and displacement for Tanzanian farmers
UK and Norwegian aid money has been invested in a project by agriculture company Agrica in Tanzania which is destroying the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, claims a new report by The Oakland Institute, Greenpeace Africa and Global Justice Now. Agrica has received millions in support from aid donors to establish an industrial plantation in Tanzania, used as a showcase project for the G7’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. Agrica contracts small-scale farmers to grow rice for the company. However, the report claims that the farmers are often forced to take out loans in order to afford seeds and chemicals, leading many into debt. It also alleges that the company has forced smallholders off their land. In a letter, Agrica responded by emphasising the overall positive impacts of the scheme which, it claims, are overlooked in the report, and contested the report’s findings. It also stated that its Tanzanian subsidiary went beyond its obligations in compensating residents, who it says may have been “fraudulently allocated” government land. (Global Justice Now)
Supply Chain
Palm oil giants to investigate company found razing Papuan rainforest
Agribusiness giants Cargill and Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) are pledging to investigate a palm oil supplier after an Indonesian environmental group presented evidence of rainforest clearing in New Guinea. On Thursday, Greenomics Indonesia released a report documenting destruction of forest in West Papua. Greenomics found that Varia Mitra Andalan (VMA), a subsidiary of Eagle High Plantations, continued to clear high carbon stock forests through March 2015, potentially putting it in breach of sustainability commitments established last year by Cargill and GAR. Both companies buy significant volumes of product from Eagle High Plantations. The findings led Greenomics to call on the companies – both signatories of the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge – to respect their “deforestation-free” sourcing policies. “We take the allegations concerning VMA seriously as our suppliers must comply with our no deforestation commitments as stated in our Forest Conservation Policy (FCP),” a GAR spokesperson said. (Eco-Business)
Renewable Energy
Clean energy ‘creates more jobs than fossil fuels’, report claims
More job opportunities can be created through investment in clean energies than through fossil fuels, claims a new report by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Global Green Growth Institute. The report explores the impacts of large-scale clean energy plans in five countries, including emerging markets Brazil and South Africa, where for every $1 million invested in clean energy, 16.2 and 33.1 jobs could be created respectively. Notably, according to the report, the level of new jobs created from new green projects is higher than would be the case for maintaining or extending fossil fuel investment. Yvo de Boer, director-general of GGGI, stated that the report helps in countering claims that cutting greenhouse gases is incompatible with economic growth. “Significant progress has already been made in overcoming the hitherto conventional wisdom that taking steps to cut GHGs was incompatible with economic growth,” he said. (Business Green)
Singapore to produce electricity from water sludge, food waste
PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, and global waste to energy firm Anaergia announced on Friday the commencement of Singapore’s first project aimed at producing more biogas for electricity generation by co-digesting used water sludge and food waste. In a statement, PUB said used water sludge will be mixed with food waste and treated in a co-digestion demonstration facility. The co-digestion plant will adopt Aenergia’s ‘Omnivore’ process, which makes use of anaerobic digestion, a biological process that breaks down organic materials without requiring oxygen to produce biogas. The National Environment Agency will conduct a pilot in Clementi district for the collection of source-segregated food waste from educational institutions, hospitals and camps for co-digestion at the demonstration plant, which is under construction and will be completed by September 2015. (Eco-Business)
Policy & Research
OECD: Large banking sectors fuel inequality and slow growth
Countries with larger banking sectors experience greater inequality and slower economic growth, according to a report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Analysis from 50 years in its 34 member countries showed that large financial sectors have the potential to slow down the rate of growth of the economy, while the higher paid workers within the financial sector exacerbate income inequality. The report said that there can be too much finance that pushes credit to the wrong places, meaning that finance is not used for the most efficient social purposes. Equally, the report claims, the high financial rewards of the sector, mean that too many talented people are “sucked in” instead of doing something else. The report also said that banks had a habit of pumping excessive credit into households which creates unsustainable bubbles, rather than investing in developing companies that had the potential to stimulate growth. (Blue & Green Tomorrow; Guardian)
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