A key milestone in agrofuel development in Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular was the high-level workshop on agrofuels organized in August 2007 by the African Union Commission in collaboration with UNIDO and the Brazilian government. The whole discourse, in my view, was flawed in that there was no enough room to genuinely discuss the potential social and environmental costs of
agrofuel development so much so that one participant was calling such concerns and their proponents ‘malicious detractors’. The Commission could have taken a more constructive role through allowing the presentation of various opinions so that some degree of caution could have been incorporated in national agrofuel development processes. I think we should seriously and genuinely question why Brazil is interested in supporting this initiative. It could be the case that Brazil is now considering Africa as potential market for agrofuel technologies, which the former is very rich in. I wouldn’t call it ‘South-South cooperation’ unless genuine multi-stakeholder discussions are conducted and Africa is allowed to draw its roadmap
of agrofuel development and cooperation based on consultations and research.
Just preceding this workshop, FfE undertook a national workshop on agrofuels in Ethiopia to sensitize national stakeholders and to contribute to the national discourse so that a blindfolded approach would be avoided. The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Center and Network (HoAREC/N).
Another interesting development in the just ended Ethiopian fiscal year (2007-8) was the encroachment of an elephant sanctuary by a foreign agrofuel company. Ethiopian Wildlife Association (EWA) and Forum for Environment (FfE campaigned against this move by taking it to the highest level of Government and succeeded in halting any further expansion. However, the company is still cultivatingagrofuel crops on an elephant corridor and efforts are still going on to resolve the situation.
Although some degree of bio-ethanol production has been existent in Ethiopia for long, the growth and cultivation of biodiesel has just started and advanced during the last two years. Jatropha, oil palm and castor bean constitute the major feedstocks for biodiesel development in Ethiopia at the moment. This report is both a compilation of papers presented during the workshop and a paper that is meant to update stakeholders on Babille Elephant sanctuary. It’s hoped that this report
will provide some information on existing projects and also guidance
on future directions.
You can download the PDF file here (134 pages, 1.3 MB)
