Namibia Workshop SANUMARC Univeristy of Namibia, Hentiesbay 3 - 5 June 2010

Presenter Biographies

JATROPHA FEEDSTOCK PRODUCTION MODELS AND SUSTAINABILITY: A COMPARISON

Jatropha Curcas L. hit headlines in many local and international media as a ‘wonder crop’ that can thrive under harsh agro-climatic conditions to provide the much needed feedstock for bio-diesel production. The bio-diesel that was to be produced was targeted at meeting primarily the blending targets in some markets, especially in the EU. This led to a gold-rush by investors to roll out feedstock production programmes in many parts of the world including the SADC region. Many such projects (with a few exceptions) unfortunately failed and brought untold misery ranging from food insecurity to job and consequently livelihood losses.

The trust and confidence that the local communities, who were promised heaven -on-earth, and several governments that thought a ‘magic bullet’ to create jobs and reduce poverty had be found, has been eroded. As a result of this, many scholars, researchers, governments, investors and donors labelled Jatropha as ‘blunder crop’. This paper seeks to highlight the potential success and failure factors of different production models in relation to sustainability principles with a view of providing vital lessons in the young but fast growing bio-fuel sector.

Presented by:

Lameck Mwewa graduated from the School of Engineering, University of Zambia in 1995 and went on to pursue further studies at the International Institute for Geo Information Science and Earth Observation, ITC (Now University of Twente, Faculty of ITC), Enschede, Netherlands in 1998.

He has worked for the University of Zambia, Department of Surveying as a lecturer in GIS/LIS and Photogrammetry, the Copperbelt University as Lecturer and researcher and now the Polytechnic of Namibia. He has been involved in a number of development projects through his incorporated practices GEOMIN Consult and Environkleen. He consulted widely to mining companies, development agencies like IFAD, JICA, SIDA, UN systems and World Bank funded projects.

In 2001, he became frustrated with the way development projects were handled and implemented and so competed regionally for a LEAD fellowship which he obtained in 2002. This increased his interested and passion in general energy issues with a deliberate bias towards sustainability of renewable energy systems. He has worked as a consultant and researcher in bio-fuels focusing on agric-based value chains in the SADC region.

He is a recipient of several merit awards, including the 1995 Best graduating student in the Department of Surveying, 1993-1994 NORAD merit fellowship given to 3 engineering students, 2002 LEAD fellow scholarship and recently the special Achievement in GIS Award, received from ESRI in July 2009 in San Diego. He is currently a Senior Lecturer, Department of Land Management Department and Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Tourism at the Polytechnic of Namibia. He is also a PhD candidate in Geography at the Justus Liebig Giessen University, investigating the Sustainability of Jatropha the SADC region.