Challenges and considerations for planning toward sustainable biodiesel development in developing countries: Lessons from the Greater Mekong Subregion

Biodiesel has the potential to economically, socially, and environmentally benefit communities as well as countries, and to contribute toward their sustainable development. Nonetheless, the complex nature of biodiesel development makes it susceptible to exogenous problems that could hinder sustainable development. To ensure that biodiesel development actually leads to a sustainable path, all possible issues and challenges need to be identified and analyzed up front, so that they can be prepared for and handled in the planning and management stages. Building upon lessons learned from biodiesel developments in the Greater Mekong Subregion, this work examines biodiesel development in developing countries in the aspects of policy, governance, management, infrastructure, technology, feedstock, impacts on the rural poor and local livelihood, climate change, and the environment. Issues within each aspect are also analyzed in the context of developing countries. As a result, this review can serve as a guideline for ensuring that biodiesel development contributes toward sustainable development in developing countries.