(Bio)Fueling Injustice? - Europafrica

SoSuMar. 131 This land will be allocated to the communities to be managed
independently by them.
According to the project developers, the project aims mainly at achieving selfsufficiency
in sugar for Mali, but also to become a sugar exporter. No specifications
are made on the purpose of the ethanol production, but it seems likely that it is going
to be exported.
The first tests having been initiated in 2004, the MSP is currently being implemented.
The first phase of implementation of the agricultural component consists in clearing,
site preparation and civil engineering works. This stage will be followed by the
development of infrastructure, extension of the irrigation system and expansion of the
farmland over a period of three years to reach the target of 14,132 hectares. The
construction of the sugar and ethanol plant is foreseen to take a period of 2 years.
4.2.3. The project’s impacts
Overall, the project’s impact area comprises a land area of 2,087 km² and a population
of 155,902 and will thus have considerable impacts on the entire region. The expected
impacts are summarized in an Ecological and Social Impacts Assessment (ESIA),
conducted as required to Malian regulations and the African Development Bank’s
procedures. 132
The project developers put forward a number of potential positive impacts, including
the creation of up to 25,000 direct and indirect jobs and a resulting increase in revenue
of the population. Furthermore, the project is expected to entail the improvement of
economic, health and educational infrastructure for the population and foreign
exchange savings and fiscal revenue for the Malian state. Opposed to these expected
positive outcomes, the impact assessment draws, however, a long list of negative
impacts.
Environmental impacts range from the irreversible loss of natural vegetation and
biodiversity and an elevated risk of erosion due to monoculture farming, regarding the
agricultural component, to air, soil and water pollution through the industrial
component. The impact assessment also clearly states that the cutting down of trees
will lead to the destruction of the vegetal and animal ecosystem.
In addition to this, the project entails the risk of insufficient water availability in the ON
region. Together with other large-scale projects, the MSP will lead to a massive
increase in the amount of water extracted from the Niger River. Given sugarcane
cultivation water needs, the size of the farmland and the processing plant, the water
intake rate is estimated at 20 m³/s. The Government has already signed an agreement
to supply water to SoSuMar/CaneCo to cover the project’s water needs at all seasons.
In addition to this, the management of one of the dams on the Niger River will be
modified to ensure an additional flow of water during low-water periods. 133 This is
going to be a major concern for the population in the entire ON area that consists
mainly of small-scale farmers using water diverted from the Niger River to irrigate their
plots. 134 Increased demand of water for the sugarcane plantations, together with the
very irregular rainfall in the region, could lead to water shortages and thus pose a
threat for the access to water of the local populations.
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