Biodiesel is a sustainable, non-toxic, biodegradable diesel fuel substitute that can be employed in current diesel car infrastructure without major modifications in the engines. It has a significant added value compared to petroleum-based diesel, reflected in a series of improved properties including fewer carcinogenic particulate matter emissions, increased lubricity and biodegradability as well as ease of handling, transport and storage. Nevertheless, it is essential that the biodiesel life-cycle is environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and socially acceptable; views that can only be properly analysed by means of a multi-angle approach. In this contribution, we aim to provide a multidisciplinary perspective on key issues for the successful implementation of biodiesel as a petrol fuel replacement including green chemistry methods to improve production and quality, the use of energy crops and feedstocks for second-generation biodiesel as well as socio-economic studies and the importance of governmental regulatory issues.

Understanding the complex interactions among food security, bioenergy sustainability, and resource management requires a focus on specific contextual problems and opportunities. The United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals place a high priority on food and energy security; bioenergy plays an important role in achieving both goals. Effective food security programs begin by clearly defining the problem and asking, 'What can be done to assist people at high risk?' Simplistic global analyses, headlines, and cartoons that blame biofuels for food insecurity may reflect good intentions but mislead the public and policymakers because they obscure the main drivers of local food insecurity and ignore opportunities for bioenergy to contribute to solutions. Applying sustainability guidelines to bioenergy will help achieve near-and long-term goals to eradicate hunger. Priorities for achieving successful synergies between bioenergy and food security include the following: (1) clarifying communications with clear and consistent terms, (2) recognizing that food and bioenergy need not compete for land and, instead, should be integrated to improve resource management, (3) investing in technology, rural extension, and innovations to build capacity and infrastructure, (4) promoting stable prices that incentivize local production, (5) adopting flex crops that can provide food along with other products and services to society, and (6) engaging stakeholders to identify and assess specific opportunities for biofuels to improve food security. Systematic monitoring and analysis to support adaptive management and continual improvement are essential elements to build synergies and help society equitably meet growing demands for both food and energy.Keywords: bioenergy, biofuels, energy, flex crops, food insecurity, food security and nutrition, natural resource management, poverty reduction, sustainable development goals Received 23 December 2015; accepted 8 March 2016The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong questions.-Peter Drucker (1971)

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Africa's rate of urbanization is the highest in the world. This is relevant to ecologists working in Africa because urban growth is strongly associated with habitat destruction, and also creates new fields of study. The ecological footprint concept is used to illustrate how urban settlements in Africa impact on rural ecosystems. At an aggregate level, African countries have the lowest ecological footprints in the world. However, there is little available data for individual cities, so evidence is fragmented making concerted policy initiatives difficult. Wood fuel continues to be a major source of energy for urban households and there is a long running debate as to what extent providing wood fuel for urban use damages forest ecosystems. Growing evidence contests the assertion that urban wood fuel markets are responsible for forest degradation. Although there are other options available, the social consequences of switching energy sources need to be taken into account. Outright bans, for example on charcoal, would lead to a loss of livelihoods in rural and urban households, and may not solve deforestation as well as increasing fossil fuel use would increase the ecological footprint.