Water has become increasingly central to addressing multiple development and environmental objectives in the course of climate change. Exploring the multiple dimensions of water governance, policy and management in a holistic way is thus imperative for financial innovations to take place in the water sector. This book constitutes, first of all, a reference document allowing African managers and policymakers to broaden their knowledge of financing strategies and tactics in order to raise funds for water services provision and water resources development. Additionally, the book reviews the agenda on water and sanitation services in order to ensure water resources development has a place in funding structures. The book presents and discusses contemporary instruments of financing water services and water resources development in Africa. In this regard, three major thematic areas are recognized as key:  Coverage of the legal and institutional contexts pertaining to water financing innovations; an assessment of economic mechanisms and principles subtending financial innovations in the water sector; and applications of innovative water financing mechanisms based on scale formation and adoption practices. This book highlights the principles of economic profitability and financial sustainability to enable creditworthiness and a snowball effect of borrowing, and will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, and academics, as well as development agencies and financiers of sustainable development and environmental (Blue and Green) economies.

Energy crises and climate change have generated global demands for alternative non-fossil fuel sources. This has led to a rapid increase of investments in production of liquid biofuels based on agricultural feed stocks such as sugar cane. Most African governments see biofuels as a potential for increasing agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthening their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using in-depth African case studies -- with Brazil as a comparative reference -- this book addresses this knowledge gap by examining the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture, particularly with regard to vital land outsourcing and food security issues. The surge for African biofuels has also opened space for private investors -- both domestic and external -- to multiply and network "independently" of the state. The biofuel expansion thus generates new economic alliances and production relations, resulting in new forms of inclusions and exclusions within the rural population. This is an essential book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels on Africa.

Energy crises and climate change have generated global demands for alternative non-fossil fuel sources. This has led to a rapid increase of investments in production of liquid biofuels based on agricultural feed stocks such as sugar cane. Most African governments see biofuels as a potential for increasing agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthening their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using in-depth African case studies -- with Brazil as a comparative reference -- this book addresses this knowledge gap by examining the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture, particularly with regard to vital land outsourcing and food security issues. The surge for African biofuels has also opened space for private investors -- both domestic and external -- to multiply and network "independently" of the state. The biofuel expansion thus generates new economic alliances and production relations, resulting in new forms of inclusions and exclusions within the rural population. This is an essential book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels on Africa.