George C. Schoneveld

The Social and Environmental Impacts of Biofuel Feedstock Cultivation: Evidence from Multi-Site Research in the Forest Frontier

Preoccupation with global energy supplies and climate change in the global North, and a desire to improve the balance of trade and capture value in the emerging carbon market by developing countries, together place biofuels firmly on the map of global land use change. Much of this recent land use change is occurring in developing countries where large agro-ecologically suitable tracts of land may be accessed at lower economic and opportunity cost. This is leading to the gradual penetration of commercial crops that provide suitable biofuel feedstocks (e.g., sugarcane, soybean, oil palm, jatropha) into rural communities and forested landscapes throughout many areas of the global South. Expansion of biofuel feedstock cultivation in developing countries is widely embraced by producer country governments as a means to achieve energy security and stimulate rural economic development through employment and smallholder market integration. It is also expected that foreign and domestic investments in biofuel feedstock cultivation will lead to positive economic spillovers from knowledge transfer and investor contributions to social and physical infrastructure. While biofuel feedstocks are expanding through large industrial-scale plantations and smallholder production alike, the expansion of industrial-scale production systems has been countered by a critical response by civil society actors concerned about the implications for rural livelihoods, customary land rights, and the environmental effects of biofuel feedstock cultivation. To date, however, limited data exist to demonstrate the conditions under which widely anticipated economic and climate change mitigation benefits accrue in practice, and the implications of these developments for forests, local livelihoods, and the climate change mitigation potential of biofuels. In such a situation, debates are easily polarized into those for and against biofuels. This special issue seeks to nuance this debate by shedding light on the local social and environmental impacts accruing to date from the expansion of biofuel feedstock cultivation through in-depth case studies in 6 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Findings provide a more nuanced picture of costs and benefits, and point to a host of risks that need to be proactively managed to leverage the potential of the industry as an engine of national social and economic development.

The Local Social and Environmental Impacts of Smallholder-Based Biofuel Investments in Zambia

High oil prices, recent commitments by industrialized countries to enhance the use of renewable energy, and efforts by developing countries to stimulate foreign investment as a pathway to development have fueled high levels of interest in the biofuel sector throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. Zambia is no exception. A large, land-locked country with high pump prices and vast tracts of land considered by many to be “degraded” or “underutilized,” investor interest in the sector has remained high despite uncertainties associated with unproven feedstocks and market fluctuations. While investment in multiple feedstock and production models may be observed, one of the primary investments has been in jatropha outgrower schemes in which small-scale farmers grow feedstock on contract with domestic and foreign investors. We assess the history and evolution of the largest such scheme in Zambia, as well as the social and environmental impacts in two districts with large numbers of outgrowers. Findings suggest that, although such a production model may hold promise for enhancing rural livelihood benefits from the emerging biofuel sector, to date, small-scale farmers have borne the brunt of the risk and uncertainty that are the trademarks of this emerging industry. We conclude with a discussion of options to minimize forest conversion and protect farmers against high-risk investments, while harnessing the potential of this business model for enhancing rural livelihoods in Zambia and elsewhere.

Local social and environmental impacts of biofuels: global comparative assessment and implications for governance.

The 2000s witnessed the rapid expansion of biofuel plantations in the global South in the context of a growing trend of crop plantation expansion. This trend has been spurred by policies in the European Union, United States, Brazil, and other countries favoring the use of biofuels in the transport sector to enhance energy security and reduce carbon emissions, as well as by the desire of governments in developing countries to harness the stimulus that new commercial investments provide to the agricultural sector and to national economies. Despite these potential benefits, a number of concerns have been raised about the local social and environmental impacts of biofuel feedstock expansion. We shed light on this debate through a synthesis of findings from case studies in six biofuel producer countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and a seventh paper exploring the implications of the land-use changes observed in these case studies for the climate mitigation potential of biofuels. We also explore the implications for governing the environmental impacts of biofuel feedstock production, protecting the rights of customary land users, and enabling smallholder-inclusive business models. Our analysis suggests that better governance of the sectors impacts is not the exclusive preserve of unitary sets of actors, but instead requires concerted and coordinated efforts by governments of producer and consumer countries, investors, civil society, and the financial sector to better capture the sectors potential while minimizing its social and environmental costs.

A systematic mapping protocol: what are the impacts of different upstream business models in the agriculture and forestry sector on sustainable development in tropical developing countries?

BackgroundAs a result of rising global food and energy insecurity, investors are increasingly seeking new opportunities in tropical developing countries endowed with comparatively cheap and abundant land resources. Predominantly targeting the agriculture and forestry sectors, these investments could make valuable contributions to the economies of developing countries. However, with most investors opting for plantation-oriented business models, in the context of weak governance regimes within many host countries, many fear that these investments may instead exacerbate socio-economic vulnerabilities and processes of environmental degradation. Therefore, there is a need to explore alternative upstream business models that are more inclusive of the poor and are more aligned with emergent green growth objectives. This systematic map aims to contribute to this debate by cataloging empirical studies conducted on the sustainability of different upstream business models in the agriculture and forestry sector (e.g. involving the cultivation of raw materials). The mapping will offer an overview of the type and quantity of research conducted to date, remaining knowledge gaps, and areas warranting a systematic review.MethodsSearches will be conducted of both academic and grey literature by employing search strings that have been iteratively tested for comprehensiveness. Studies retrieved in the searches will be screened using pre-defined inclusion criteria and coded across a broad range of study characteristics. Inclusion criteria include, for example, type of business model employed, social, economic, and environmental impacts, and study design (e.g. generation of new empirical evidence). The outputs will be a database of included search results and a systematic map offering descriptive statistics and narrative assessment of the state of the evidence base in this topic.

Translating Legal Rights into Tenure Security: Lessons from the New Commercial Pressures on Land in Ghana

Abstract Since the confluence of the food and oil price crises of the mid 2000s, Ghana has become a prime destination for large-scale farmland investments. While this trend could make valuable contributions to an ailing agricultural sector, the alienation of rural land for commercial ends could conversely have far-reaching implications for customary land rights. Through an analysis of the legislation protecting customary land rights and governing such the alienation of those rights and by contrasting this with practice, this article highlights some of the fundamental challenges in translating legal rights into tenure security in contemporary Ghana. It shows that despite the legal recognition of customary land rights, in practice customary land users are ultimately responsible for contesting infringements upon these rights. With traditional authorities able to capture substantial rents from the alienation process and government institutions offering scant oversight as a result of fragmented responsibilities, capacity constraints, and political disincentive, the protection of customary land rights is becoming increasingly contingent on community ‘capacity to claim’. Since poor access to information, unrealistic expectations and deference to traditional authority tends to quell disputes over alienation, the limited mechanisms for protecting citizen access to resources gives reason to reconsider the importance of direct state involvement in the customary land domain.

Large-scale land acquisitions: exploring the marginal lands narrative in the Chitemene System of Zambia

Zambia is a country embracing (and facilitating) large-scale foreign investments in agriculture as a pathway to economic development. Yet to date no systematic studies on the costs and benefits of such investments for customary land users have been conducted. This paper aims to fill that gap with a case study in Mpika District, Northern Province. We analyze the income households derive from shifting agricultural plots (chitemene), permanent cropland and other land uses in 3 villages falling within a leasehold concession acquired by a foreign company interested in jatropha cultivation, and compare that with the income derived from employment. We then take a scenario approach. Our findings suggest that the ultimate livelihood effects will depend a great deal on the patterns of corporate occupation of land; the extent to which displaced households are able to capture the economic opportunities that emerge and the particularities of household livelihood strategies and local landscapes.