In sub-Saharan Africa, commercial bioenergy production has been hailed as a new form of ‘green capitalism’ that will deliver ‘win-win’ outcomes and ‘pro poor’ development. Yet in an era of global economic recession and soaring food prices, biofuel ‘sustainability’ has been at the centre of controversy. This paper focuses on the case of post-war Sierra Leone, a country that has over the last decade been consistently ranked as one of the poorest in the world, facing food insecurity, high unemployment and entrenched poverty.

The guanaco Lama guanicoe was the only large native herbivore widely distributed across Patagonia until the introduction of domestic sheep Ovis aries. Guanacos have declined because of competition with sheep for forage, high hunting pressure and habitat degradation. Península Valdés is a protected area where sheep ranching is the predominant activity. A ranch formerly dedicated to sheep production was converted into a private wildlife reserve, from which all the sheep were removed in 2005.

Policies play a pivotal role in determining land change. Uruguay has been subject to first a rise and then decline in plantations of exotic trees as a result of internal Uruguayan government policies, and a recent substantial increase in soybean cultivation that may be attributed to Argentinean policies. To properly assess the relationship between land change and changes in land-use policies, vegetation change for Uruguay from 2001 to 2009 was mapped using MODIS imagery.