Presentation delivered by Mairon G. Bastos Lima (Institute for Environmental Studies) at the Rio+20 side event on the role of civil society and knowledge institutions in sustainable development: http://www.ipc-undp.org/PageNewSiteb.do?id=274&active=2

1. The Governance of Biofuels:
Lessons for the Collective Role of Government
and Civil Society Organizations
Mairon G. Bastos Lima,
PhD candidate

2. Biofuels and sustainable development?
 ―Green fuels‖ and ―green economies‖ — more to
it than carbon.
> Other ecological dimensions
> Socio-economic dimensions
 High risks and potentials – It all depends on how
biofuels are produced.
> Land-use change and deforestation?
> Land-grabbing?
> Expansion of input-intensive and no-diversity
agriculture?
> Creation of socially-inclusive production systems that
lead to ecological benefits and local economic
development?
2

3. A Crucial Role for Biofuel Governance
Earth System Governance
3

4. What lessons are there from the case of
biofuels for the collective role of
government and civil society organizations?
4

5. Lesson 1: Suitable knowledge and technologies
Inclusive development depends on
governments and CSOs building suitable
knowledge and technologies
 Most private investments, tech. dev., and
increasingly science, are tailored to the needs
and interests of large-scale enterprises and
often not suited to small-scale agriculture or
traditional mixed farming (e.g. health, seeds)
 The rural poor are not guinea pigs to be
experimented on with unclear, hyped solutions
and risky business models (e.g. jatropha)
 It needs not to replace traditional knowledge,
but to build on it (e.g. biofuels and agroecology)
5

6. Lesson 2: Capacity-building and empowerment
Smallholder inclusion or autonomous
development depend on enhancing local
organizational capacity and empowerment
 It is hard to incorporate atomized smallholders
into production chains
 Atomized smallholders also have less bargaining
power
 Climbing onto value-adding stages of production
requires skilled labour and coordination
Lack of these has led to: social exclusion, adverse incorporation,
and retention at the lowest levels of the value-chain
6

7. Lesson 3: Policy advocacy
Favourable institutional frameworks are
essential for promoting inclusive
sustainable development
 The set of rules determines who gets public
incentives to do what (e.g. tax breaks, credit)
 Economic incentives to industry can be tailored to
social (or environmental) requirements
 Public policies are to be accountable and
responsive to the needs of the masses – for the
sake of democracy
But such policies do not always come about spontaneously
7

8. Take-home messages
 Biofuels need to be seen as more than a renewable fuel;
they, as SD, need to be seen as more than climate – which
seems to get almost all the attention.
 Social development is not an automatic co-benefit of just
anything that involves the poor — it requires careful participatory
planning to avoid ―adverse incorporation‖.
 Well-designed public policies are essential, but they require
knowledge inputs from research networks, local capacity-
building facilitated by public institutions and NGOs, and political
pressure from social movements.
8