This book addresses bioenergy opportunities and related risks for Africa in five parts: Biomass Production and Use; Biomass Technologies and Markets; Biomass Policies; Sustainability of Biomass Production and Use; Financing and Socio-Economic Issues. The interest in bioenergy has been driven primarily by initiatives on climate change to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG), to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and by potential for socio-economic development. At the same time, there is increasing concern with the wider implications of bioenergy production, particularly if grown at large scale, including pro-poor development, environmental sustainability, GHG emissions, land use changes and impact on food prices.

African countries have launched initiatives to establish regulatory policy frameworks for bioenergy to ensure environmentally, economically and socially sustainable production and use of traditional and modern bioenergy. There are regional and African Union level initiatives too. Specific activities in bioenergy sustainability certification as an essential component of the regulation of the bioenergy sector are also being performed in three countries and one region but these do not address the perceptions of communities and the risks of negative environmental and socio-economic effects.

The book highlights the crucial importance of carefully integrating polices for land use, agriculture and energy, and aligning them with policies for rural development, transport and finance; and that bioenergy development in African countries will only find its proper environmental context and agricultural scale if convergence with biodiversity, GHG emissions and water use policies is achieved. Two important aspects are not addressed: the important role of Conservation Agriculture in reducing energy requirement for bioenergy crop production and in lowering GHG emissions, and the need to use crop residues in sustainable soil health and production management.