Biofuel and African lands
Most people here in Britain are used to the idea of the ownership of land, but there are vast areas of the world where there is no security of land ownership. People might have been farming in a location for generations, but without title deeds and a land registry they may not raise capital to invest in their farm nor may they protect their rights of ownership in law. If this makes life difficult for settled farmers, just imagine what it means for pastoralists and hunter gatherers.
With the European government target requiring ten per cent of road transport fuel to be supplied by bio-fuel, there has been a scramble for new supplies of bio fuel and because we do not want to make farmers produce bio-fuel crops instead of food crops we say that bio-fuels must come from wilderness, degraded or marginal land. However, some of this land might, if converted to producing bio-fuel crops produce more CO2 than it saves. For example, if the land was previously rainforest or a rich peatland. So this has meant that bio-fuel projects are looking to uncultivated land which is not rainforest or peatland.
Africa is full of such land, where ownership is purely traditional and no-one has title deeds. African governments are offering up to forty per cent of their country for big bio-fuel projects. And because the pastoralists and subsistence cultivators cannot prove they own the land they are being swept away in their thousands already.
Unless we ensure that our bio-fuel supplies are socially and environmentally sustainable, we may be pushing the world’s poorest people off their meagre lands.
Previous article: Geoff Hoon (Friday, 10th October, 2008)
Comments
land tenure
Andrew,
Thank you, this is extremely interesting. I wonder whether since you wrote this, you have taken it a step further and delineated what percentage of the land is actually under customany tenure? From the article, I am not sure whether you support the bio-fuel projects or not. I would like to read more of your work.
gratefully,
lulu Hayanga (Nairobi, Kenya)
Tenshilaw@yahoo.com
Land research
Much though I would like to investigate African land tenure further - I have not done so – I have other pressing needs. However, from my little knowledge and Eurocentric understanding I believe that secure land tenure (and water rights for that matter) would benefit Africa greatly. Also, the diversion of all (or most) aid from being paid to governments or NGO projects to being paid directly to the people along with all resource license revenues (from mineral extraction and fisheries etc) would have a dramatic effect on corruption and democratic dynamics.
At present, some governments get most of their revenue from oil and other mineral extraction licenses. This disconnects them from their citizens. If such revenue was paid directly to the citizens and the government had to collect income, land or expenditure taxes directly from the people they would be responsible for their actions to the people. This is not just an African problem. It affects any country which derives a significant amount of its revenues from a few businesses rather than many people. Even selling mobile telephones licenses, air waves or any “common good” would be best given directly to citizens. The distribution costs more but the advantages are far higher.
As a believer in using economic tools to include as many externalities as possible into our prices, in a sense I do not need to have a view on the benefits on first, second or third generation of bio-fuels because if the climate change factors of bio-fuel agriculture were included in the price I doubt whether bio-fuels, as we know them, would have a market - they would be too expensive.
Put simply we need to get the liquid out of powering cars as quickly as possible thus bypassing most of the need for bio-fuels in the first place.
BIO FUEL and African Land
Whose land was it in the first place: if one is a "believer", one can say this land belongs to God, the Father;let us share and care for His land.
If one does NOT believe in a GOD, then the land belongs to ALL people who live there. Surely, "we" in the Western world cannot use THEIR land for OUR bio-fuel.
The western system of Economics is NOT the only one: The Govt does not want to EXPLORE Buddhist, Hindu(Vaishnava), Islamic economies. GREED has led to recent crises.
If we continue to EXPLOIT, we will not only exploit Africa but also our own people and mother & father.
EXPLOITATION is an evil !