Chelimo's story - climate change and biofuels
18 August 2009
"My name is Chelimo and I live in North Kenya. My family have not been able to grow any food this year. All we have to eat is poisonous berries.
"It takes us two days to prepare them and remove the poison. First we remove the outer shell and then dry the berries in the sun. After that we boil them for 12 hours and skim off the poisonous water. Then we rinse the berries and peel them and finally they are ready to eat"
What is happening in Kenya?
A prolonged drought over several years has led to 10 million hungry people searching for food. Many are heading for the cities where they face life in the slums.
Climate change is going to make these extreme weather conditions more and more common.
Mounting scientific evidence has exposed the disastrous effects biofuels are having on climate change. Their production releases more greenhouse gases than the fossil fuels they were designed to replace. They are making hunger a daily problem for families like Chelimo’s.
photo : ©Des Willie/ActionAid
Fact file
Hunger kills 1 child every 10 secs. Growing biofuels has reduced the amount available to eat, pushing up food prices.
In just five African countries, 1.1 million hectares have already been given over to biofuels - an area the size of Belgium.
Current industrial biofuels policies could push hundreds of millions of extra people into hunger by 2020
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