The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The study estimates carbon impacts of bioenergy from ten biomass feedstock harvesting pathways feeding into three different production pathways. The harvesting pathways include forestry, agricultural residue, and dedicated energy crops. The production pathways are electricity generation, biochemical ethanol production, and thermochemical ethanol production. This is the first study to analyze …
State-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has claimed a technological breakthrough that could be a game changer for advancing use of bio-diesel in the country and ensuring ready acceptance of the fuel by the automobile industry. IOC has stated that it has successfully developed and commercialised a technology to co-process non-edible …
The potential for regional climate change arising from adoption of policies to increase production of biofuel feedstock is explored using a regional climate model. Two simulations are performed using the same atmospheric forcing data for the period 1979–2004, one with present-day land use and monthly phenology and the other with …
The Planning Commission, Government of India has set a target of 20 per cent blending of diesel with bio-diesel by the year 2012 to reduce the wide gap between demand and supply of petroleum products. This requires cultivating bio-diesel yielding crops on 11 M.ha to yield 13 M.t. of bio-diesel …
Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity among populations of Jatropha curcas (L.) from different agro-climatic regions of India. Out of 305 amplified bands obtained with 30 primers, 291 were found polymorphic.
Report predicts forced displacement of poor people from their land to meet EU targets to grow fuel crops. The European Union’s biofuel policies are driving up global food prices and pushing people in poor countries off their land, says a recent report of ActionAid. EU has a target of 10 …
This policy paper addresses the rapidly evolving energy sector of India and the growth of first-generation biofuels as an alternative to fossil-based transportation fuels. The paper assesses the broad ramifications of the rapid and large–scale development of biofuels in India with the objective of identifying production potential and constraints to …
The greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels have been under discussion for years. Now studies commissioned by the European Union are putting pressure on biodiesel in particular.
India 67th In Global Hunger Index Among 81 Countries With Worst Figures New Delhi: India’s food security situation continues to rank as “alarming” according to the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Global Hunger Index, 2011. It ranks 67 of the 81 countries of the world with the worst food security …
Leaked EU draft texts confirm expectations that the 27-member bloc is likely to seek to 'green' farm subsidy payments after 2013 by adding new rules on protecting the environment. Controversially, though, the drafts also reveal new plans to allow some countries to re-allocate more direct payments to the production of …
Widespread adaptation of biomass production for bioenergy may influence important biogeochemical functions in the landscape, which are mainly carried out by soil microbes. Here we explore the impact of four potential bioenergy feedstock crops (maize, switchgrass, Miscanthus X giganteus, and mixed tallgrass prairie) on nitrogen cycling microorganisms in the soil …
Generating energy from crops instead of oil and coal can have counterproductive effects. “The use of biomass can lead to additional emissions of greenhouse gases”, says lead author Alexander Popp of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). “This is the case if forests get cut down to plant …
Proponents of biomass-based fuels push for sustainability against a steady tide of conflicting analysis, but can advanced biofuels cut the mustard? http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/pdf/474S02a.pdf
The most controversial aspect of biofuels is the perceived competition for farmland. Will advances in biofuels and agriculture send this trade-off speeding towards the history books? http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S06a.html
Shifting from corn to perennial crops in making biofuels is essential to save clean water, argues Jeremy Martin. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S017a.html
This report considers the ethical, social and policy issues raised by biofuels and sets out an ethical framework for both current and future biofuels production and makes a number of recommendations to policy makers. The report considers the ethical, social and policy issues raised by biofuels. The rapid adoption of …
The global push towards a more biomass-based energy sector is ramping up efforts to adopt regionally appropriate high-yielding crops. As potential bioenergy crops are being moved around the world an assessment of the climatic suitability would be a prudent first step in identifying suitable areas of productivity and risk. Additionally, …
A central challenge for sustainability is how to preserve forest ecosystems and the services that they provide us while enhancing food production. This challenge for developing countries confronts the force of economic globalization, which seeks cropland that is shrinking in availability and triggers deforestation. Four mechanisms—the displacement, rebound, cascade, and …
