Biofuels and
poor people’s access to land
Sonja Vermeulen
International Institute for Environment
and Development (IIED)
International Land Coalition (ILC)
 Better safeguards
from governments –
providing more than
strong land tenure
 More imaginative
solutions from
small and large
businesses (with
government
incentives)
Why biofuels? 4 policy goals:
Not all biofuels industries will deliver all 4 goals
Opportunities:
More diverse and
secure livelihoods
Broader development
benefits (including local
energy)
Threats:
 Land concentration
 Loss of land &
resources among poor
Threats
Safeguards
Rural
developmen
t goals
Opportunities
Imaginative
models
Safeguards
For people’s
welfare
But also for
people’s rights
and choices
Safeguards
 Protection of local food systems
 Requirements for local consultation and
negotiation
 Mechanisms for appeal, arbitration and
review
 Clearer definitions of under-utilised, marginal
and degraded lands
 Strengthening of access to the law
 Integrated setting of social standards
Imaginative
models
For working with
farmers and
landholders
But also for
greater shares in
the value chain
Imaginative models
 Land lease arrangements
 Collective land use
 Market-rate rental
 Contract farming
 Purchase agreements
 Outgrower schemes
 Joint equity models
 Land as equity
 Shares in processing
…moving
away from
one-off
compensation
towards longterm benefitsharing…
Roles for government
Policy frameworks… Local services…
Financial incentives… Underwriting…
Standard setting… Brokerage… R&D…
www.iied.org