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Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa

揭示生物燃料对撒哈拉以南非洲生态系统服务、人类福祉和减贫的影响

基本信息

批准号：
NE/L001373/1
负责人：
Katherine Willis
金额：
$ 57.65万
依托单位：
University of Oxford
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2013
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2013 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FL001373%2F1
关键词：
Unraveling biofuel impacts ecosystem services

项目摘要

In the past decade, biofuel production expanded significantly across Africa, with jatropha (for biodiesel) and sugarcane (for bioethanol) attracting the most attention. Sugarcane ethanol has a proven commercial model with excellent energy balances. Jatropha is not yet proven commercially but it might offer valuable socioeconomic benefits in Africa, particularly for small-scale farmers.For several African countries the biofuel policy priorities at national level revolved around energy security and rural development, as well as attempts to take advantage of carbon finance where available. Some countries have relied heavily on ambitious state-sponsored investment/expansion plans, whereas others have encouraged private sector investment. Foreign investors have been actively seeking out African land for the establishment of feedstock production. In fact almost all projects in the region to date have been based on direct foreign investment or international NGO initiatives. Despite this policy and investor interest, several early biofuel ventures collapsed. There is evidence to suggest that was a result of i) lack of proper agronomic knowledge (particularly for jatropha), ii) appropriate institutions that could regulate the nascent biofuel sector, iii) investor caution during the 2008 global financial crisis, iv) lack of market development and v) a growing understanding of the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts. In several cases this left the poor local communities, even poorer. Some of these poverty outcomes are directly related to the loss of access of local communities to natural ecosystems (and the goods and services they provided). This implies that there are significant linkages between the environmental and socioeconomic performance of biofuel projects but we still have an incomplete understanding of these interrelations in Africa lest developed countries. Considering the above, the aim of this interdisciplinary project is to provide clear empirical evidence on whether, and how, biofuel production and use can improve human wellbeing and become an agent of poverty alleviation in African least developed countries (LDCs). The understanding of the environmental impact of biofuel production must be a pre-requisite for understanding the true human wellbeing and poverty alleviation effects of biofuel expansion in Africa.In order to answer these questions we have carefully selected six case studies in Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland that reflect the main modes of biofuel production and use encountered across Africa. The comparative analysis of their performance can provide important insights for the poverty alleviation potential of these diverse biofuel strategies in Africa least developed countries. Furthermore, Malawi and Mozambique are low-income countries while Swaziland is low-middle income country. As a result our research can have a great development impact to the lives of poor people in these countries. Finally, our strong focus on Malawi is due to the fact that Malawi is the only African country that has been continuously blending biofuels with conventional transport fuel (up to 20%) in the past 30 years. The success of Malawi with biofuel production will allow us to identify what has contributed to Malawi's success, and the lessons than can be learned and transferred to other countries in the region. Overall, our vision is to provide knowledge that can inform the development of evidence-based institutional mechanisms for enhancing the poverty alleviation potential of biofuel projects in Africa LDCs, and to reduce the risks of such ventures, particularly to poor smallholders. We will disseminate our results to a wide variety of stakeholders including local biofuel/feedstock producers, national, regional and the global policy-makers, practitioners, NGOs and academics in the case countries and beyond.

在过去的十年里，生物燃料的生产在整个非洲显著扩大，其中麻疯树（用于生物柴油）和甘蔗（用于生物乙醇）吸引了最多的关注。甘蔗乙醇已被证明具有良好的能量平衡的商业模式。麻疯树尚未在商业上得到证实，但它可能在非洲提供宝贵的社会经济效益，特别是对小农。对一些非洲国家来说，国家一级的生物燃料政策重点围绕着能源安全和农村发展，以及在可能的情况下利用碳融资的尝试。一些国家严重依赖雄心勃勃的政府投资/扩张计划，而另一些国家则鼓励私营部门投资。外国投资者一直在积极寻找非洲土地以建立原料生产。事实上，该区域迄今几乎所有的项目都是基于外国直接投资或国际非政府组织的倡议。尽管有这样的政策和投资者的兴趣，几家早期的生物燃料企业还是倒闭了。有证据表明，这是由于i)缺乏适当的农学知识（特别是麻疯树），ii)可以监管新兴生物燃料部门的适当机构，iii) 2008年全球金融危机期间投资者的谨慎，iv)缺乏市场开发，以及v)对潜在环境和社会经济影响的日益了解。在一些情况下，这使得当地的贫困社区变得更加贫困。其中一些贫困结果与当地社区无法获得自然生态系统（以及它们提供的商品和服务）直接相关。这意味着生物燃料项目的环境和社会经济绩效之间存在着重要的联系，但我们对非洲最不发达国家的这些相互关系仍有不完全的了解。考虑到上述情况，这个跨学科项目的目的是提供明确的经验证据，证明生物燃料的生产和使用是否以及如何能够改善人类福祉，并成为非洲最不发达国家（LDCs）减轻贫困的一种手段。理解生物燃料生产对环境的影响必须是理解生物燃料在非洲扩张的真正人类福祉和扶贫效果的先决条件。为了回答这些问题，我们在马拉维、莫桑比克和斯威士兰精心挑选了六个案例研究，这些案例反映了整个非洲遇到的生物燃料生产和使用的主要模式。对它们的性能进行比较分析可以为这些不同的生物燃料战略在非洲最不发达国家的减贫潜力提供重要的见解。此外，马拉维和莫桑比克是低收入国家，而斯威士兰是中低收入国家。因此，我们的研究可以对这些国家贫困人口的生活产生巨大的发展影响。最后，我们之所以特别关注马拉维，是因为马拉维是非洲唯一一个在过去30年里持续将生物燃料与传统运输燃料混合（比例高达20%）的国家。马拉维在生物燃料生产方面的成功将使我们能够确定是什么促成了马拉维的成功，以及可以吸取和转移到该地区其他国家的经验教训。总的来说，我们的愿景是提供知识，为建立以证据为基础的体制机制提供信息，以增强非洲最不发达国家生物燃料项目的减贫潜力，并降低此类项目的风险，特别是对贫困小农的风险。我们将把我们的成果传播给广泛的利益相关者，包括当地生物燃料/原料生产商、国家、地区和全球政策制定者、从业者、非政府组织和案例国家内外的学者。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（8）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

Trade-off decisions in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation

DOI：
10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107103
发表时间：
2021-09
期刊：
Ecological Economics
影响因子：
7
作者：
M. Schaafsma;F. Eigenbrod;A. Gasparatos;N. Gross-Camp;C. Hutton;F. Nunan;K. Schreckenberg;K. Turner
通讯作者：
M. Schaafsma;F. Eigenbrod;A. Gasparatos;N. Gross-Camp;C. Hutton;F. Nunan;K. Schreckenberg;K. Turner

Using an ecosystem services perspective to assess biofuel sustainability

使用生态系统服务的角度评估生物燃料的可持续性