Briefing: Biofuels, food security, and Africa

GLOBAL BIOFUEL PRODUCTION TRIPLED BETWEEN 2000 and 2007 and is projected to double again by 2011.1 This growth reflects a growing interest worldwide in renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels, especially as a perceived solution to the transport sector’s dependency on oil. It also reflects the enforcement in 2005 of the Kyoto Protocol, and the increasing implementation of national biofuels targets. As a result of these and other influences, policy makers and researchers in African countries are giving more attention to biofuels. Yet the rising demand for biofuels has sparked a debate over the threat that energy security poses to food security, and within a few short years biofuels have shifted from being seen as a multi-purpose solution to a range of problems – climate change, energy insecurity and underdevelopment – to what the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has described as a ‘crime against humanity’.2 The threat is particularly profound for the many African countries where food security is a significant issue, and raises questions in what has become known as the ‘food-versus-fuel’ debate. This briefing discusses the relationship between biofuels and food security in Africa, and brings in related issues concerning land ownership and livelihoods. As more and more African countries devote land to the cultivation of biofuels, the numerous questions and potential conflicts that are addressed here are of crucial relevance to many vulnerable populations, environments, and states across the continent.