Biofuels and land use : global requirements and local impacts

Citing the need for energy security, climate change mitigation, and support for farmer incomes, more than two-dozen countries have announced biofuel production or blending targets for ethanol and biodiesel. The Indian government is no exception, having enthusiastically adopted an oilseed-bearing shrub, Jatropha curcas, as a biodiesel feedstock. There is increasing concern in the scientific community about the potentially expansive land area required to meet such targets. While the carbon dioxide and energy balances of biofuels have been thoroughly examined using lifecycle assessment (LCA), the land-use impacts have received considerably less scrutiny. Studies that have estimated land use requirements have typically examined individual national targets on an ad-hoc basis, with widely varying assumptions. To better understand the impacts of biofuel production on land use, I approach the issue on two scales. At the macro scale, I use a model to estimate the future land area that will be required to meet national biofuel targets, using a uniform methodology to examine the effect of future crop yield growth and co-product allocation. At the micro scale, I examine the specific local impacts that are anticipated to result from Jatropha biodiesel plantation development in rural Rajasthan, India. Researchers and policy-makers across the developing world have expressed a strong interest in following India’s example, and rural Rajasthan makes for an excellent case study from which we can draw lessons applicable to other developing countries.Science, Faculty ofResources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute forGraduat