Biofuels Development in Ethiopia

project summary

Rising oil prices, the need for energy independence, improving rural livelihoods, and concerns with climate change have led to a revived interest in investing in large-scale biofuel production in Africa. However, there are many inter-related concerns over the potential of biofuels in fulfilling these objectives. These concerns are related to: (1) the extent to which there has been local participation during planning and implementation of large-scale biofuel development; (2) the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on access to land and other resources, especially for women and rural poor; and (3) impacts on households-level economic welfare. These factors affect the outcome of biofuels investment depending on the type of biofuel feedstock production (large-scale, outgrowers, or combination of both). Studies on biofuel that actually look at these impacts on the ground at the community level in Africa are rare, and in Ethiopia they are simply not available. The aim of this PhD is therefore to examine the involvements of local communities during planning and implementation of large-scale biofuels investments and to investigate the impacts of these investments on rural household economic welfare, land property rights, and access to land and water.