Abstract

Trade-offs of land-conversion in the Guinea Savannah
Track: Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Affairs
Authors: An Notenbaert

The climate change debate has spurred the interest in and promotion of biofuels as an important future energy source. Growing biofuel crops, however, takes land, which remains a limited and much sought-after resource. The African Guinea Savannah is one of the areas that shows up in many analyses as having potential for both food and fuel production, thereby offering the opportunity to millions of poor small-holder farmers to improve their living standards. We use a wealth of publicly available data to investigate the current land use in this region as well as its potential for biofuel, crop and livestock production. We then look into the trade-offs associated with different land-use conversions, in terms of biodiversity, productivity and social costs and benefits. The resulting information can provide the basis for sustainable land use decisions in the vast Guinea Savannah.