Impact of Jatropha production on ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in southern Africa
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Katherine Willis (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Mudombi S
(2018)
Multi-dimensional poverty effects around operational biofuel projects in Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland
in Biomass and Bioenergy
Romeu-Dalmau C
(2018)
Impacts of land use change due to biofuel crops on climate regulation services: Five case studies in Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland
in Biomass and Bioenergy
| Description | This project provided the first comprehensive synthesis of the literature regarding the impact of biofuel landscapes on ecosystem services and their link to human wellbeing and poverty alleviation. The focus of this project was sugarcane ethanol and jatropha biodiesel Sub-Sahara Africa. We identified a number of ecosystem services that are provided, diverted, displaced or diverted from biofuel landscapes. Changes in such ES flows can have a significant impact on human wellbeing. We then proceeded to identify the mechanisms through which these human wellbeing and poverty alleviation effects manifest. Even though these mechanisms are possible to be derived in a generalizable way, the actual magnitude of these benefits depend significantly on a number of factors, such as the feedstock used, the mode of feedstock production and the original land use among others. Building on this work, we highlighted a number of priority policy areas for improving the sustainability of biofuel production and use in Sub-Sahara Africa. |
| Exploitation Route | This research can be of direct benefit to practitioners and policy-makers interested in biofuel issues in Sub-Sahara Africa. To facilitate this apart from standard academic publications we published a paper in Environmental Policy and Law, released a policy report and shot a 15 min video. The reception of these non-standard deliverables was warm showing that there are significant applied components in this work. We have shared our fieldwork findings with the two companies that allowed us access to their operations (Niqel Mozambique, BERL Malawi). We have also identified non-governmental organisations in the UK and abroad that have shown interest to directly use some of our main research findings. See below |
| Sectors | Energy Environment |