In media reports on riots ignited by rising food prices, production of biofuel is often blamed for the price increase. The full picture is of course more complex, with increasing demand for meat in countries like China and India, failed harvests recently, more expensive fuel etc being some other factors behind the high food prices of today.

But how does the debate surrounding high food prices affect green policies on biofuels? Can food sovereignty be achieved together with production of biofuels, or do we have to choose? How does biofuel production relate to production of other cash crops, like cotton or coffee? How do we assure that governments, especially in developing countries, have policy space enough to secure food for all its citizens and in addition to that independently decide upon cash crops that best suites the country's development strategies?

We in the Swedish Green Party's International Committee would like to propose a workshop that invites participants to share experiences and thoughts on the issue of food for all and how this human right affects the idea of biofuels as one possible contribution to curb climate change and potential export revenue source for developing countries.

The workshop also would link to other activities initiated by the International Committee within the Swedish Green Party to put the first UN Millennium goal of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty under the spotlight. In doing so, we have produced a report on "Zero Hunger" which has been endorsed by the Swedish Green Party as official party policy. This report also formed the basis for a resolution on Zero Hunger that was taken by the European Green Party at its fourth Council meeting, in May 2006. The resolution can be found here: http://www.europeangreens.org/cms/default/dokbin/176/176804.zero_hunger@....
A workshop at the Global Greens Congress would be an opportunity to further expand this discussion.