Since ethanol blend fuel (E10) has been available at German bowsers, demand for ethanol from sugar cane keeps rising. Especially for people in Latin America this agro-fuel boom is a tragedy. A female sugar cane worker from Nicaragua has visited Germany and reported many thousands of people killed and made ill.
The cause is the cocktail of chemicals sprayed on the huge plantations. It causes human kidneys to fail, poisons soils and waters.
Activists are being asked to protest to the German government and the European Union to stop ethanol imports.
Dams threaten livelihoods and unique species
In Southeast Asia planned dams threaten the survival of millions of people and unique riverine animals.
On 22 April the governments of Cambodia, Laoas, Thailand and Vietnam are set to decide whether a new mega dam will massively interfere with the course of the Mekong River, which feeds millions of families in the five countries.
The Xayaburi hydroelectric dam planned in Laos would be the first of 11 dams on the lower reaches of Asia’s busiest stream.