ECONIS Select – Bioenergy and Land Use in Developing Countries

07/2009

Food security and promoting modern uses of biomass as a source of energy in developing countries: Conflicting interests impossible to reconcile or two ends of a common strategy?

Biomass is the most important source of energy in many developing countries, most notably in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Although the bulk of biomass consumption comes from traditional uses of biomass such as the burning of firewood for basic household energy services, there is growing discussion on the potential to build up modern biomass energy industries in developing countries, e.g. biofuel and biogas industries.

On the one hand, biofuel production bears the danger of leading to land use competition, potentially crowding out food production and leading to higher agricultural prices that hit the world’s poorest hardest.

Thus, it might, at first sight, seem cynical to think about using agricultural goods for providing fuel. On the other hand, high prices could provide incentives for agricultural sector development. This would ultimately promote food security and provide resources for biofuel production while benefiting rural areas in developing countries. Furthermore, the environmental dimension is crucial as well: Land use change resulting in massive CO2 emissions is undesirable from a global climate point of view and could in addition aggravate problems of soil erosion and water availability. To avoid problems of food provision as well as to preserve valuable natural areas and carbon stocks it is proposed that mainly degraded land should be used to extend the agricultural area for biomass production. The development of an international certification scheme is necessary to promote a sustainable production of biofuels, including a certain greenhouse gas emission reduction target. Furthermore, south-south knowledge and technology transfer would be beneficial, given the dominant position of Brazil as an ethanol producer. In order to foster production and trade of biomass, the harmonization of technology and fuel standards is important as well as a reduction in trade barriers. Main questions to be addressed by the panel: What is the potential contribution of biomass energy to the future development of developing countries? How to prevent the adverse effects from changing land with high carbon storage value to agricultural land? How to prevent conflicts between energetic use of biomass and food security?

Literature selected from our database ECONIS:

• Title: Biofuels and food security / this study was commissioned by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and has been prepared by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). Günther Fischer, Eva Hizsnyik, Sylvia Prieler, Mahendra Shah and Harrij van Velthuizen
  Institution: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis OPEC Fund for International Development
  Year: Vienna : OFID, [2009]
  Keywords: Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Nahrungsmittelpreis / Unterernährung / Getreideanbau / Biokraftstoff / Bioenergie / Klimaveränderung / Biodiversität / Welt
• Title: Biofuels and food security : implications of an accelerated biofuels production ; summary of the OFID study / prepared by IIASA. [Authors: Günther Fischer; Eva Hizsnyik; Sylvia Prieler; Mahendra Shah; Harrij van Velthuizen]
  Institution: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
  Year: Vienna : OFID, 2009
  Series: OFID pamphlet series ; 38
  Keywords: Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Nahrungsmittelpreis / Unterernährung / Getreideanbau / Biokraftstoff / Bioenergie / Klimaveränderung / Biodiversität / Welt
  Link: http://www.ofid.org/publications/PDF/pamphlet/ofid_pam38_Biofuels.pdf
  Signature: C 258492
• Paper: Biomass energy and competition for land / John Reilly and Sergey Paltsev
  In: Economic analysis of land use in global climate change policy . - London [u.a.] : Routledge, ISBN 0-415-77308-3. - 2009, S. 182-205
  Keywords: Bodennutzung / Landwirtschaftliche Bodennutzung / Klimaveränderung / Umweltpolitik / Bioenergie / Prognose / Theorie / Welt
• Title: A note on rising food prices / Donald Mitchell
  Year: Washington, DC : World Bank, Development Prospects Group, July 2008
  Series: Policy research working paper ; 4682
  Keywords: Nahrungsmittelpreis / Biokraftstoff / Wechselkurs / US-Dollar / EU-Staaten / USA / Entwicklungsländer
  Link: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/exte...728103002/Rendered/PDF/WP4682.pdf
• Title: Promoting biofuels : implications for developing countries / Jörg Peters and Sascha Thielmann
  Year: Jan. 2008
  Anbieter: Essen : RWI
  Series: Ruhr economic papers ; 38
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Förderung regenerativer Energien / Agrarsubvention / Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse / Entwicklung / Entwicklungsländer / Indien / Tansania
• Title: The economics of biofuels / Runar Brännlund, Bengt Kriström, Tommy Lundgren and Per-Olov Marklund
  Year: 28 Mar. 2008
  Anbieter: Umeå : Univ., Dep. of Economics
  Series: Umeå economic studies ; 736
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Energiekonsum / Ökosozialprodukt / Ressourcenökonomik / Publikationsanalyse / Theorie
  Signature: W 226 (736)
• Paper: Agriculture, world food security, bio-energy and climate change : some inconvenient facts / Harald von Witzke
  In: Quarterly journal of international agriculture . - Frankfurt, M. : DLG-Verl., ISSN 0049-8599, ZDB-ID 2249959. - Bd. 47.2008, 1, S. 1-4
  Keywords: Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Bioenergie / Klimaveränderung / Welt
• Paper: Agrofuel boom or doom? : opportunities and constraints for agrofuels in developing countries / Manfred Zeller and Martin Grass
  In: Quarterly journal of international agriculture . - Frankfurt, M. : DLG-Verl., ISSN 0049-8599, ZDB-ID 2249959. - Bd. 47.2008, 4, S. 285-305
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Klimaveränderung / Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Substitutionseffekt / Nachhaltige Entwicklung / Entwicklungsländer / Welt
• Paper: High food commodity prices: will they stay? : who will pay? / Joe Dewbre; Céline Giner; Wyatt Thompson; Martin Von Lampe
  In: Agricultural economics . - Malden, Mass. [u.a.] : Blackwell, ISSN 0169-5150, ZDB-ID 7428893. - Bd. 39.2008, 3, S. 393-403
  Keywords: Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Nahrungsmittelpreis / Agrarmarkt / Biokraftstoff / Welt / 1970-2014
• Paper: Anatomy of a crisis : the causes and consequences of surging food prices / Derek Headey and Shenggen Fan
  In: Agricultural economics . - Malden, Mass. [u.a.] : Blackwell, ISSN 0169-5150, ZDB-ID 7428893. - Bd. 39.2008, 3, S. 375-391
  Keywords: Agrarpolitik / Rohstoffmarkt / Biokraftstoff / Welt
• Title: The impacts of biofuel production on food prices : a review / Nicolas Gerber; Manfred van Eckert; Thomas Breuer
  Year: Bonn : ZEF, Dec. 2008
  Series: ZEF discussion papers on development policy ; 127
  Link: http://131.220.109.9/fileadmin/we...s/downloads/zef_dp/zef_dp_127.pdf
• Paper: A dynamic model of food and clean energy / Ujjayant Chakravorty, Bertrand Magné, Michel Moreaux
  In: Journal of economic dynamics & control . - Amsterdam : North-Holland Publ. Co., ISSN 0165-1889, ZDB-ID 7174093. - Bd. 32.2008, 4, S. 1181-1203
  Keywords: Hotelling Modell / Biokraftstoff / Landwirtschaftliche Bodennutzung / Umweltpolitik / Theorie
• Title: Is sugar sweeter at the pump? : the macroeconomic impact of Brazils alternative energy program / Marc D. Weidenmier; Joseph H. Davis; Roger Aliaga-Diaz
  Year: Cambridge, Mass., 2008
  Series: NBER working paper series ; 14362
  Keywords: Energiepolitik / Förderung regenerativer Energien / Biokraftstoff / Erdölförderung / Wirtschaftswachstum / Sozialprodukt / Wohlfahrtseffekt / Brasilien / 1980-2008
  Signature: W 1 (14362)
  Link: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14362.pdf
• Title: Review of environmental, economic and policy aspects of biofuels / Deepak Rajagopal; David Zilberman
  Year: Washington, DC : World Bank, Development Research Group, Sustainable Rural and Urban Development Team, Sept. 2007
  Series: Policy research working paper ; 4341
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Umweltökonomik / Makroökonomischer Einfluss / Politik
• Paper: Policy making and lands use changes : facing new and complex realities / Teunis van Rheenen
  In: Development economics between markets and institutions . - Wageningen : Wageningen Acad. Publ., ISBN 978-90-8686-047-0. - 2007, S. 105-120
  Keywords: Bodennutzung / Landwirtschaft / Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Klimaveränderung / Urbanisierung / Biokraftstoff / Welt
• Paper: Biofuels : a new chance for agriculture or a threat to food security / Winfried von Urff
  In: Quarterly journal of international agriculture . - Frankfurt, M. : DLG-Verl., ISSN 0049-8599, ZDB-ID 2249959. - Bd. 46.2007, 2, S. 99-104
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Landwirtschaftliche Bodennutzung / Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Landwirtschaftliche Entwicklung / Welt
• Paper: Competition between agricultural and renewable energy production / Birger Kerckow
  In: Quarterly journal of international agriculture . - Frankfurt, M. : DLG-Verl., ISSN 0049-8599, ZDB-ID 2249959. - Bd. 46.2007, 4, S. 333-347
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Nahrungsmittelversorgung / Regenerative Energie / Landwirtschaft / Welt
• Paper: Biofuels - experiences and perspectives in industrialized and developing countries / Oliver Henniges and Jürgen Zeddies
  In: Quarterly journal of international agriculture . - Frankfurt, M. : DLG-Verl., ISSN 0049-8599, ZDB-ID 2249959. - Bd. 46.2007, 4, S. 349-371
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Förderung regenerativer Energien / Produktionskosten / Internationaler Wettbewerb / USA / Brasilien / Europa / Vergleich / Thailand / Australien / China
• Title: Bioenergy and agriculture : promises and challenges / ed. by Peter Hazell and R. K. Pachauri
  Institution: International Food Policy Research Institute TERI - Energy and Resources Institute
  Year: Washington, DC : IFPRI, 2006
  Series: Focus ; 14 A 2020 vision for food, agriculture, and the environment
  Keywords: Bioenergie / Landwirtschaft / Landwirtschaftliche Entwicklung / Agrarpolitik / Entwicklungsländer
  Link: http://www.ifpri.org/2020/focus/focus14/focus14.pdf
  Signature: C 250146
• Title: The promises and challenges of biofuels for the poor in developing countries : essay / Joachim von Braun and R. K. Pachauri
  Institution: International Food Policy Research Institute
  Year: Washington, DC : Internat. Food and Policy Research Inst., c 2006
  Keywords: Biokraftstoff / Ländliche Entwicklung / Landwirtschaftliche Entwicklung / Landwirtschaftlicher Kleinbetrieb / Ländliche Armut / Entwicklungsländer
  Signature: B 351932