Lieu : EIFER, Karlsruhe, Germany
Date : PFE 2009
Résumé : From a desk-top review and some semi-structured interviews, the study aims to go further into assessing: “What might be carefully considered to reconcile development of large-scale biofuel plantations in Africa and decent livelihoods for local populations?” It adopts a people-centred approach meaning that only issues that may have implications for the local communities and their livelihoods are considered.
The study focuses on the first stage of biofuels systems, namely the agricultural feedstock production.
It provides a list of identified ongoing or prospective biofuel activities. This shows that Africa is at the infancy of large-scale systems but that land acquisition is the first currently growing step catching the eyes of many investors.
After justifying the scope of the study including the area focus of Sub-Saharan Africa (with data collection more pursued for Tanzania and Mozambique) and the feedstock focus for first-generation biofuels (with some energy crops having higher potential in Africa: sugar cane, maize, cassava, sweet sorghum, oil palm and jatropha), the study builds a conceptual framework. Pooling the concepts of Sustainability and the Approach of Sustainable Livelihoods enables to structure the way of thinking people’s concerns and identify key relevant topics to the implications of large-scale biofuel production on the locals. Based on this theoretical framework and the learnings from empirical feedbacks (including the central analysis of the view of the Friends of The Earth on the Latin America experience), key relevant issues are defined to meet the research question. They are not all given thorough coverage but the three major topics of land, water and food security are targets for further research assessment and review of the situation and challenges. Finally, at the light of the study investigation, strategic recommendations intend to orientate project developers towards mitigating the negative impacts and achieving maximum benefits towards social sustainability, rural and national development, and environmental sustainability. The conclusion presents the stance on the matter at the light of the study investigation.
Stagiaire : Sandrine Duchaine
Mots-clefs : afrique, biofuel, développement durable