The extremely rapid rise of interest in biofuels around the world has brought intense focus on the industry in the recent years. As an industry that is still very much in its infancy, there continue to be many unknowns and most governments are unsure of how to develop a balanced policy framework for biofuels.

With this rise in interest in biofuels, we have also seen much effort being expended into exploring the goals for biofuel use, scenarios of its penetration into the global and local energy markets, alternative biofuel technologies and their performance standards, and the possible impacts of biofuel development on other sectors and social goals.

Above all, the exponential increases in biofuel production are forcing development policy and regulatory frameworks traditionally concerned with food and fiber production to enter into the complex arena of global energy policy. The transition is unlikely to occur without substantial confusion and uncertainty. Similarly, major national and global commitment of land and water resources to biofuel production will almost certainly have major implications for other sectors that rely on those resources, from agriculture to ecosystem conservation. Once again, it is unlikely that present policy arrangements will be optimal for such a dramatic realignment of interess and incentives governing resource use.

We at Kijani Energy believe in the need to systematically think through how policy toward biofuels could best be developed, at both national and international levels, so as to maximize the long-term benefits to the society. To stimulate such thinking, we have undertaken two primary initiatives: (1) we have started a series of seminars to discuss these topics at Universidade Católica de Moçambique in Beira; and (2) we intend to use our website as a medium for us to disseminate our views on policy matters.