The status of bioenergy development in developing countries

• A review of biofuel status in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America is presented.
• Currently there is minimal production of biofuels in Africa and few policies in place.
• In Asia, feedstock supply and fossil fuel subsidies have been the main barriers incurred.
• Latin American countries have struggled to meet mandate targets.
• Sustainable bioenergy requires coordination and country level assessments.

Following a period of increasing oil prices, bioenergy received a wake of renewed attention by policymakers as an alternative renewable energy strategy due to the potential for improving country level energy security, for increasing overall access to energy, stimulating rural development and for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, concerns about the viability of this strategy and potential conflicts with food demand soon dampened the enthusiasm and raised a number of questions concerning environmental and social sustainability and, more specifically, food security. In reality though, with the exception of the US, Brazil and some European countries, production of modern bioenergy and more specifically liquid biofuels around the world is still limited, especially in the case of Africa where the sector is still in its infancy. The paper gives a detailed overview of production in the African, Asian and Latin American regions illustrating how the three regions of the developing world are working toward bioenergy development, the strategies and policies, and the main hurdles being encountered.