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Africa, Let Us Help – Just Like In 1884

From the Conference of Berlin to today’s G8, ‘helping’ Africans looks suspiciously like grabbing their resources George Monbiot The Guardian , Monday 10 June 2013 20.30 BST Illustration by Daniel Pudles One of the stated purposes of the Conference of Berlin in 1884 was to save Africans from the slave trade. To discharge this grave responsibility, Europe’s powers discovered, to their undoubted distress, that they would have to extend their control and ownership of large parts of Africa. In doing so, they accidentally encountered the vast riches of that continent, which had not in any way figured in their calculations, and found themselves in astonished possession of land, gold, diamonds and ivory. They also discovered that they were able to enlist the labour of a large number of Africans, who, for humanitarian reasons, were best treated as slaves. One of the stated purposes of the G8 conference, hosted by David Cameron next week, is to save the people of Africa from starvation . To discharge this grave responsibility, the global powers have discovered, to their undoubted distress, that their corporations must extend their control and ownership of large parts of Africa. As a result, they will find themselves in astonished possession of Africa’s land, seed and markets. David Cameron’s purpose at the G8, as he put it last month, is to advance “the good of people around the world”. Or, as Rudyard Kipling expressed it during the previous scramble for Africa: “To seek another’s profit, / And work another’s gain … / Fill full the mouth of Famine / And bid the sickness cease” . Who could doubt that the best means of doing this is to cajole African countries into a new set of agreements that allow foreign companies to grab their land, patent their seeds and monopolise their food markets? The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition , which bears only a passing relationship to the agreements arising from the Conference of Berlin, will, according to the US agency promoting it, ” lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years through inclusive and sustained agricultural growth”. This “inclusive and sustained agricultural growth” will no longer be in the hands of the people who are meant to be lifted out of poverty. How you can have one without the other is a mystery that has yet to be decoded. But I’m sure the alliance’s corporate partners – Monsanto, Cargill, Dupont, Syngenta, Nestlé, Unilever, Itochu, Yara International and others – could produce some interesting explanations. The alliance offers African countries public and private money (the UK has pledged £395m of foreign aid) if they strike agreements with G8 countries and the private sector (in many cases multinational companies). Six countries have signed up so far . That African farming needs investment and support is indisputable. But does it need land grabbing? Yes, according to the deals these countries have signed. Mozambique, where local farmers have already been evicted from large tracts of land, is now obliged to write new laws promoting what its agreement calls “partnerships” of this kind. Ivory Coast must “facilitate access to land for smallholder farmers and private enterprises” – in practice evicting smallholder farmers for the benefit of private enterprises. Already French, Algerian, Swiss and Singaporean companies have lined up deals across 600,000 hectares or more of this country’s prime arable land. These deals, according to the development group Grain, ” will displace tens of thousands of peasant rice farmers and destroy the livelihoods of thousands of small traders”. Ethiopia, where land grabbing has been accompanied by appalling human rights abuses, must assist “agriculture investors (domestic and foreign; small, medium and larger enterprises) to … secure access to land”. And how about seed grabbing? Yes, that too is essential to the wellbeing of Africa’s people. Mozambique is now obliged to “systematically cease distribution of free and unimproved seeds”, while drawing up new laws granting intellectual property rights in seeds that will “promote private sector investment”. Similar regulations must also be approved in Ghana, Tanzania and Ivory Coast. The countries that have joined the New Alliance will have to remove any market barriers that favour their own farmers. Where farmers comprise between 50% and 90% of the population, and where their livelihoods are dependent on the non-cash economy, these policies – which make perfect sense in the air-conditioned lecture rooms of the Chicago Business School – can be lethal. Strangely missing from New Alliance agreements is any commitment on the part of G8 nations to change their own domestic policies. These could have included farm subsidies in Europe and the US, which undermine the markets for African produce; or biofuel quotas, which promote world hunger by turning food into fuel. Any constraints on the behaviour of corporate investors in Africa (such as the Committee on World Food Security’s guidelines on land tenure) remain voluntary, while the constraints on host nations become compulsory. As in 1884, powerful nations make the rules and weak ones ones abide by them: for their own good, of course. The west, as usual, is able to find leaders in Africa who have more in common with the global elite than with their own people. In some of the countries that have joined the New Alliance, there were wide-ranging consultations on land and farming, whose results have been now ignored in the agreements with the G8. The deals between African governments and private companies were facilitated by the World Economic Forum , and took place behind closed doors. But that’s what you have to do when you’re dealing with ” new-caught, sullen peoples, / Half devil and half child “, who perversely try to hang on to their own land, their own seeds and their own markets. Even though David Cameron, Barack Obama and the other G8 leaders know it isn’t good for them. • Twitter: @georgemonbiot . A fully referenced version of this article can be found at Monbiot.com [/font][/color] Continue reading

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United Airlines Signs 15m Gallon Biofuel Purchase Agreement

June 6, 2013 United Airlines will purchase 15 million gallons of biofuel from AltAir Fuels that will be used on flights departing from Los Angeles International Airport starting in 2014, the airline says. The companies expect AltAir Fuels’ renewable jet fuel to achieve at least a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle basis. According to the agreement, AltAir Fuels will retrofit part of an existing petroleum refinery to become a 30-million gallon, advanced biofuel refinery near Los Angeles, Calif. AltAir will produce low-carbon, renewable jet fuel and other renewable products at the refinery. United will buy 5 million gallons of biofuel per year over a three-year period with the option to purchase more. The companies say the biofuel price will be competitive with petroleum-based jet fuel. AltAir will use process technology developed by Honeywell’s UOP to retrofit the existing refinery near Los Angeles and says the facility will be the first refinery internationally to be capable of in-line production of both renewable jet and diesel fuels. The facility will convert nonedible natural oils and agricultural wastes into approximately 30 million gallons of low-carbon, advanced biofuels and chemicals per year. These advanced biofuels are drop-in replacements for petroleum-based fuel, requiring no modification to factory-standard engines or aircraft , with which they are fully compatible. United says it will support AltAir Fuels’ efforts to incorporate internationally recognized sustainability standards, such as those being developed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials . In 2009, United Airlines became the first North American carrier to perform a two-engine aircraft flight demonstration using sustainable biofuels derived from algae and jatropha. United also operated the first flight by a North American commercial airline using synthetic fuel made from natural gas in 2010. A year later, United operated the first US commercial flight powered by advanced biofuels. Last summer, United, along with the Boeing Company, Honeywell’s UOP, the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Clean Energy Trust, launched the Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels Initiative (MASBI). MASBI is an effort by more than 40 organizations across the aviation biofuels supply chain to accelerate the commercialization of advanced biofuels in the Midwest. United Airlines is also a signatory to the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group , whose members represent approximately 32 percent of commercial aviation fuel demand. United signed a pledge to pursue the advancement of drop-in biofuels that achieve important sustainability criteria, work with leading organizations to achieve biofuel certification standards and take actions to enable commercial use of aviation biofuels. Continue reading

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Column: Housing Rebound Boosts Timber Stocks

By John Wasik CHICAGO | Mon Jun 3, 2013 4:42pm EDT (Reuters) – If a tree falls in the forest, can you make a little money? As the U.S. housing rebound continues, you can watch the value of your real estate rise. In addition you can reap gains from resource companies that own and process timber. Since most U.S. homes are still framed with wood, timber becomes a more valuable commodity as new construction booms. Home prices gained the most in seven years in March, according to a recent S&P Case-Shiller housing index report. Housing starts in April rose 16 percent over the previous month with new building permits up 14 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. North American sawmills are running at the fastest pace in six years, up nearly 7 percent over last year, according to CIBC World Markets , a Canada-based investment bank. Growth in China is also contributing to the rebound. More than 60 percent of log exports from the Pacific Northwest head to the People’s Republic. Timber is also becoming more scarce as forests shrink. As a commodity, it provides an inflation hedge, too; the S&P Global Timber & Forestry index has produced an annualized return of nearly 7 percent over the past three years through April 30. The current Consumer Price Index is running at an average 1 percent. Why invest in timber and related resource companies instead of the obvious play in homebuilder stocks ? Those companies have been rallying for more than a year and are pricey. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF, for example, a fund that holds most of the major home-construction companies, is up more than 50 percent over the past year through Friday, almost double the price of a consumer cyclical index. That portfolio’s price- earnings ratio – what investors are willing to pay for a dollar of expected earnings – is 20, compared to 14.4, for the SP 500. The underlying S&P index for the timber sector has climbed more than 31 percent over the past year through May 31 compared to a nearly 50-percent gain for the S&P Homebuilders Index. The iShares Global Timber and Forestry Index ETF (WOOD), has p/e of 18; that’s not a bargain price either, but timber stocks are a better value now relative to homebuilding stocks and may have more upside. REGIONAL VIEW Most timber companies specialize in specific regions where they own or lease properties. But to obtain global diversification, it’s best to consider one of two exchange-traded funds on the market that hold timber, packaging and real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own lumber resources. The Guggenheim Timber ETF, holds major producers like Weyerhaeuser Co and International Paper Co. It tracks the Beacon Global Timber Index, which holds companies that own or lease forested land or produce wood-based products. More than 40 percent of the companies are based in greater Europe or Asia. It’s up 8 percent year to date through May 31 and gained 25 percent last year. As an alternative, the iShares timber ETF mentioned above has more than 60 percent of its holdings in the Americas, including Plum Creek Timber Company Inc and Potlatch Corp . The iShares fund is a better deal on expenses than the Guggenheim product, charging 0.48 percent annually for management, compared to 0.70 percent for the Guggenheim fund. It’s gained 4 percent year to date and 23 percent last year. Of the two ETFs, the iShares fund offers more total international exposure, including 13 percent stakes in Brazilian companies and 11 percent in Japan , says Eric Dutram, ETF analyst at Zacks Investment Research in Chicago. Either way, the two funds are reasonably priced, he said. Many timber companies give you a bonus if they’re vertically integrated. They could mean they are producing value-added products like rayon, packaging or paper, which also would benefit from a broad economic recovery. These companies may also own or lease land that may result in other mineral plays such as petroleum or natural gas . Keep in mind that timber trends can cut the other way. As funds specializing in a handful of commodities that rise and fall directly with economic demand, these ETFs are not for nervous investors. Guggenenheim Timber lost nearly half its value in 2008 and has a 32-percent five-year standard deviation, a volatility gauge. That compares to 20 percent for a world natural resources stock index. If the housing market goes south again, then these ETFs will suffer. Consider them only as small parts of a larger portfolio and not large holdings. (The author is a Reuters columnist and the opinions expressed are his own. For more from John Wasik see link.reuters.com/syk97s ) (Follow us @ReutersMoney or here Editing by Linda Stern and Andrew Hay) Continue reading

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