Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa

The project, running from October 2013 to October 2015, seeks to identify strategies to minimize trade-offs between biofuel production and rural wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa. It employs field-based research at case study sites in Malawi, Swaziland, and Mozambique, focusing on sugar cane and jatropha feedstocks. The study examines various ecosystem services—including climate regulation and water—and dimensions of poverty such as food security and energy poverty, with a specific focus on Malawi's long-term experience with biofuel blending in transport fuel.

• The project aims to establish empirical evidence regarding the specific conditions under which biofuel production and use can act as a mechanism for poverty alleviation and the improvement of human wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Research is conducted across four case study sites in Malawi (Illovo and Dwangwa, BERL), Swaziland (RSSC/SWADE), and Mozambique (Niqel), analyzing both small-scale and large-scale investments utilizing jatropha or sugar cane as feedstocks.
• The study evaluates a wide range of ecosystem services, including water, pollination, climate regulation, woodland products, and feedstocks for fuel, alongside poverty dimensions such as public health, education, employment, and food security.
• Malawi is a primary focus of the project because it is the only African nation that has blended sugar cane ethanol with conventional transport fuel in high quantities for the last 30 years.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (n.d.). Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2014-Unraveling-brochure-online.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. n.d. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2014-Unraveling-brochure-online.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2014-Unraveling-brochure-online.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitutendunraveling, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-2014-Unraveling-brochure-online.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }