Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Innovation & Intellectual Property
The study describes local technologies and projects related to local technologies
for the production of biofuels and demonstrates their usefulness in local
communities. It recommends that African governments:
[a]dvance biofuels technology research, development, and demonstration in
order to drive down costs for the technologies; enhance product and system
performance, reliability, and efficiency; and expand the base of cost competitive
end use applications. These activities should have a particular focus on local
technology development and production. National/regional research centers
that include small-scale biofuels technologies should also be encouraged. Upto-date
technology information and data exchanges should also be encouraged.
(UNDESA, 2007, p. 35)
The approaches to building localised biofuel use and development which are
recommended in the UNDESA report appear to be very similar to the approaches
adopted by the government of Mozambique in its NPSB of 2009 (see below).
Econergy (2008)
This Econergy study was commissioned by the government of Mozambique and
funded by the World Bank and the Italian Embassy in Maputo. The study assesses
the baseline conditions in Mozambique; the different feedstocks for biofuels production;
the market potential for biofuels; the competitiveness and feasibility of
biofuel production; global biofuels production trends and technologies; and prospects
for the implementation of projects in the biofuels sector in Mozambique
that might align with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s
(UNFCCC’s) Clean Development Mechanism (established by Article 12 of the
Kyoto Protocol).
The study reviews the available production technologies for biofuels, as well
as technologies likely to emerge in the succeeding decade. The discussion of first
generation biofuels production technologies clarifies that these technologies convert
only a fraction of the feedstock (oils, sugars and starches) into fuel. The second
generation technologies, meanwhile, represent an incremental improvement
in feedstock utilisation efficiency by attempting to convert the remaining matter
into fuel as well. These technologies are still in the very early stages of commercialisation
in Europe and the US and therefore it is difficult to predict how soon
they will be deployed in Mozambique. (Of note in this respect was a February
2012 report that Portuguese group Galp Energia is planning a EUR2 million project
in Mozambique using second generation biofuel production from jatropha
(Macauhub, 2012)).
The Econergy study does not indicate any particular method for how to develop
or transfer biofuels production technologies, but suggests that Mozambique should
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