A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

maize in the United States proved that the technology was relatively
simple. The same went for agro-diesel based on oil palm, soya and other
oil-producing plants, like jatropha. In Brazil the beginning of the ethanol
wave coincided with the 1973 oil crisis, making it possible to reduce the
importing of very expensive crude oil. In the United States the problem
was to reduce its dependence on external sources of oil, as it did not
consider the countries concerned very reliable. This justified the production
of ethanol assisted by large State subsidies, with maize yielding less
agrofuel than cane sugar.
A number of countries have started to legislate the use of a certain percentage
of ‘green energy’ in their overall consumption. The European
Union decided that by 2020 the proportion should be 20 per cent, with
10 per cent in green liquid, that is, agrofuels. These plans mean it would
be necessary to convert millions of hectares to cultivation for this purpose.
In fact, Europe in particular (but also the United States) does not
have enough land to satisfy the demand, given its enormous consumption.
As a result, towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century,
there has been a growing interest in the continents of the South that
possess a lot of uncultivated land.
Agrofuels are produced as monocultures, that is, by the utilization of
huge areas of land to grow a single crop. In many cases this entails the
elimination of enormous forests, as is happening in Malaysia and Indonesia.
In less than 20 years, 80 per cent of original forest in these countries
has been destroyed to make way for plantations of oil palm and eucalyptus.
Biodiversity has disappeared, with dire consequences for the reproduction
of life. Not only is a great quantity of water needed to
produce these crops, but large amounts of chemical products are used
as fertilizers and pesticides. As a result the underground water and rivers
flowing into the sea are heavily contaminated. Furthermore, the small
landholders are being expelled and many indigenous peoples are losing
their ancestral lands, which has led to numerous social conflicts, and
even violence. If current plans are implemented between now and 2020,
tens of millions of hectares will be dedicated to agrofuel monoculture
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