farmers and communities

Adapted from the author’s paper “How good enough biofuel governance can help rural livelihoods: making sure that biofuel development works for small farmers and communities”, an unpublished background paper for FAO’s State of Food and Agriculture 2008. Some suggestions on how to achieve biofuel development that favours sustainable rural livelihoods. The quest for sustainable biofuel systems has increased tremendously over the past few years. Concerns about potential negative effects, such as deforestation and competition between food and biofuel production, have led to the demand for sustainability instruments such as standards, criteria and indicators to be applied through mandatory regulations and/or voluntary schemes such as certification. To ensure that biofuels contribute to the Millennium Development Goals, and in particular to the first goal on food security and poverty reduction, it is important to ensure that biofuel development at least does not harm, and preferably favours, the livelihood strategies of small-scale producers and communities in rural areas. This article addresses what it takes to achieve biofuel development that favours sustainable rural livelihoods. Biofuel systems are complex because: they are inherently composed of three quite diverse components – feedstock (raw material) supply, conversion technology and energy use; these components are influenced simultaneously by environmental, economic and social factors; they can serve various purposes, from national energy supply to community-level energy autonomy; they function at different scales, from large-scale to decentralized village-based schemes. Biofuel development is also strongly influenced by current global trends such as transition to market economies, globalization, high and volatile fossil fuel prices and rising concerns about climate change. Yet biofuel development should be geared to people’s livelihoods as well as to global and national energy needs. Livelihoods are sustainable (Ashby and Carney, 1999) when they: are resilient in the face of external shocks and stresses; are not dependent on external support (or if they are, this support should itself be economically and institutionally sustainable); maintain the long-term productivity of natural resources; do not undermine the livelihoods of, or compromise the livelihood options open to, others. The article briefly discusses governance mechanisms that can ensure that small farmers and communities in rural areas do not lose out from the implementation of biofuel schemes.