<h1>Land conversion for biofuel threatens Indigenous rights and biodiversity, triggering scrutiny of environmental and social safeguards.</h1> Plans to convert millions of hectares into food and energy estates for bioethanol and crops present major legal issues of land use conversion, environmental harm from large scale deforestation and risks to customary tenure. The programme overlaps critical habitats and Indigenous territories, producing reported restrictions on traditional livelihoods and raising questions about compliance with environmental assessment, consultation obligations and the sufficiency of reforestation as mitigation.