Assessing the Sustainability of Bioenergy Projects in Developing Countries: A Framework for Policy Evaluation

Abstract

Fulfilling the promise of sustainable development has become a major concern for proponents ofmodern bioenergy projects. The global land area dedicated to feedstock production, be it for liquid biofuels, solid biomass or biogas, has expanded greatly over the past decades; increasingly so indeveloping countries. Current first generation bioenergy feedstocks, particularly for commercial scale production, demand large areas of land and in many cases have extensive labour requirements. Where marginal or degraded lands are not used, feedstock production could compete with food crops for land or labour, may impact negatively on biodiversity and alter local hydrology, or create a multitude of other direct or secondary social and environmental impacts. The expanding global demand for bioenergy products provides many opportunities for socio-economic benefits and rural development in developing countries; however there are also numerous tradeoffs and potential negative impacts that must be taken into account. The need to assess and find a balance between both positive and negative impacts of bioenergy production and use is therefore apparent. Whilst some existing initiatives are proving to be robust and effective from a western, market-oriented perspective, a concern is that the assessments are limited in scope and often only conducted after projects are designed and initiated. A strong need has been identified for approaches with a developing country perspective which assess impacts both in a locally oriented, context specific way as well considering how they might relate to wider national or international agendas. This volume provides an introduction to a selection of suitable approaches that can be used to assess individual aspects of bioenergy production, based on up to date knowledge, and worked out examples from a developing country perspective.