The UK government is putting millions of vulnerable people and the environment at risk unless it reviews its new transport fuel policy, said Oxfam. From tomorrow, British motorists will have no choice but to fill their cars with fuel made in part from crops like corn and sugar, in a misguided Government attempt to tackle climate change.

Despite growing scientific evidence that biofuels could exacerbate rather than reduce climate change, and reports linking biofuels to human rights abuses, slave labour, and rising global food prices, the Government has ploughed ahead with its controversial Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). This means all diesel and petrol from UK forecourts will contain 2.5% of biofuels as of April 15, costing taxpayers £500m a year.

Oxfam is investigating reports of human rights abuses and land-grabbing in Asia, Africa and South America. Worldwide, 60m indigenous people - the population of the UK -face clearance from their land to make way for biofuel plantations, including five million in the Indonesian region of West Kalimantan.

Oxfam wants the Government to stop its policy until a thorough investigation into the impacts of biofuels has been completed and credible and enforceable standards are in place, which can guarantee that biofuels make neither climate change nor poverty worse. Unless they do, the lives and livelihoods of poor people around the world will be put at risk by rising demands for biofuels.

Oxfam Policy Adviser, Robert Bailey said: "It is outrageous that the Government is forcing compulsory use of biofuels onto the British public without full evidence of their impact. It is like treating a patient with an untested medicine that could make them even more unwell.

"People in poor countries are being driven off their land to make way for new plantations. They are working in punishing conditions for pittance. The price of food is spiralling rapidly out of their reach and rainforests are being destroyed.

"Senior Government scientists have condemned this policy and the Prime Minister himself has voiced his concerns about the contribution of biofuels to food price inflation, and yet the policy is being pushed through. At the same time, the European Commission is pushing for even bigger targets, against little opposition so far from EU members including the UK. This inconsistency at the highest levels simply beggars belief."

A review of the policy, announced last month, provided only four weeks for people to put forward their research. Moreover, it is being coordinated by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), which is responsible for the RTFO. This is clearly a conflict of interest and is unlikely to lead to a genuine assessment which takes poor peoples' needs into account.

The Government claims its biofuels will be sustainable, but Oxfam points out that in fact there are no minimum standards, only lax reporting guidelines riddled with holes, making it impossible to guarantee that biofuels haven't been produced at the expense of human rights or the environment.

Bailey said: "The Government prides itself on being a leader in tackling climate change. But unless it pulls back on this nonsensical policy and pushes Europe to do the same, it will be guilty of exacerbating the problem and putting the future of poor people in developing countries - who are already feeling the impact of climate change hardest - at serious risk."

Ends/

For more information, case studies, interviews and pictures contact: Lucy Brinicombe, 01865 472192 / 07786 110054; lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk.

Notes to Editors:

! Picture Opportunity: Giant Maize protest with Oxfam, Friends of the Earth and RSPB supporters will be at Parliament Square, Westminster, on April 14 at 10.50-11.20am. Interview opportunities also available. Contact on site, Natalie Brook, 07752 269518.

Facts and figures:

• The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that biofuel demand is responsible for about 30% of recent food price inflation


• Higher food prices are felt most by the world's poor, who typically spend 50 to 80% of their income on food. Any increase in food prices will reduce food consumption and increase hunger


• Studies estimate that for every single percentage point rise in the price of food, 16 million more poor people become hungry, meaning that by some estimates global biofuel demand may result in an extra 600 million people being hungry in 2025 than was previously estimated


• For the EU's part, the Commission has estimated that the 10% target will have an impact on world cereal prices of up to an increase of 6%. This translates to 100 million more people going hungry as a result of the EU's biofuel policy.


• Large-scale growth in biofuels demand has pushed up food prices whilst quite probably making climate change worse. Natural carbon sinks, such as rainforests and grasslands, are being destroyed to make way for new biofuel plantations or food crops displaced by biofuels


• According to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 60m indigenous people worldwide face clearance from their land to make way for biofuels

About the Government investigation into biofuels:
Ruth Kelly announced an investigation to look into the environmental and economic consequences of biofuels following scientific research and growing concerns about the impacts of biofuels. The investigation is being carried out by Professor Ed Gallagher, former CEO of the Environment Agency. However, its findings will not feed into the UK's policy-making decisions until 2010.