New Report Says Bioenergy Can Support Food Security

An international team of experts from 10 institutions has released Reconciling Food Security and Bioenergy: Priorities for Action, a report that says energy and food security can be simultaneously improved through well-designed biofuel and bioenergy development programs.

The report points out that food and energy security are complementary goals, as embodied in the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The authors outline a number of ways in which development-focused efforts to promote food security and secure clean and reliable sources of energy for local populations can align in a synergistic way. The report identifies science-based steps to ensure that biofuels, food crops and natural resources can be managed sustainably together. It also contains conclusions pointing out how bioenergy can promote food security.

The report is published in the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy, generated by an international and multidisciplinary collaboration that was initiated at a conference in November 2014. More details are available at the International Food Policy Research Institute website.