Sustainable development for whom and how? Exploring the gaps between popular discourses and ground reality using the Mexican jatropha biodiesel case

This research paper examines the gap between the perceived benefits of jatropha-based bioenergy and the actual outcomes in Yucatan, Mexico, arguing that popular discourses regarding its role in sustainability and rural development are flawed.

• Jatropha was promoted in scientific and non-scientific literature as a tool for sustainability and rural development, specifically for producing biodiesel, reducing greenhouse gas emissions relative to fossil fuels, and creating jobs in rural areas. This led various countries to create national policies incentivizing jatropha as a bioenergy feedstock crop.
• An analysis of 70 semistructured interviews with community members in a region of Yucatan, Mexico, where plantation-scale jatropha projects were implemented, indicates that these projects failed to provide significant social sustainability benefits.
• The authors conclude that bioenergy projects alone cannot achieve social sustainability in rural areas. They recommend that future policymaking move beyond popular discourses and instead develop a comprehensive understanding of local socioeconomic problems, treating bioenergy as one of several solutions.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Sustainable development for whom and how? Exploring the gaps between popular discourses and ground reality using the Mexican jatropha biodiesel case. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/sustainable-development-for-whom-and-how-exploring-the-gaps-between-popular-discourses-and-ground-reality-using-the-mexican-jatropha-biodiesel-case/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Sustainable development for whom and how? Exploring the gaps between popular discourses and ground reality using the Mexican jatropha biodiesel case. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/sustainable-development-for-whom-and-how-exploring-the-gaps-between-popular-discourses-and-ground-reality-using-the-mexican-jatropha-biodiesel-case/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Sustainable development for whom and how? Exploring the gaps between popular discourses and ground reality using the Mexican jatropha biodiesel case |date=13 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/sustainable-development-for-whom-and-how-exploring-the-gaps-between-popular-discourses-and-ground-reality-using-the-mexican-jatropha-biodiesel-case/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025sustainable, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Sustainable development for whom and how? Exploring the gaps between popular discourses and ground reality using the Mexican jatropha biodiesel case}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/sustainable-development-for-whom-and-how-exploring-the-gaps-between-popular-discourses-and-ground-reality-using-the-mexican-jatropha-biodiesel-case/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }