Land appropriation for Biofuels in Tanzania: Whose Sustainable Development

Abstract

Biofuels are premised to promote sustainable development by addressing two related global

problems: climate change and poverty alleviation in developing countries. It is argued that

biofuels could balance conservation and sustainable development by combating climate change

while also creating job opportunities to improve local communities’ livelihoods. Certainly,

developing countries, including Tanzania, have in recent years promoted investments in

biofuels production. Nonetheless, based on findings gathered through qualitative methods in

Kisarawe district, Pwani region, this paper maintains that land acquisition for biofuels is best

explained by David Harvey’s (2003) concept of accumulation by dispossession – that, the

process of transferring land rights from marginalized local people to biofuel investors involved

the use of threats, force and manipulation. This has heightened resource conflicts given that

biofuels production has tended to exclude resource interests of local communities. Thus, it

suffices concluding here that neo-Liberal capitalism is hiding itself in the discourse of climate

change to legitimize control over resources in the Global South.