Bioenergy for Rural Development

Top international experts in bioenergy, food security and the environment met in Rome to discuss the impact of the rapidly-expanding bioenergy industry, and agreed that governments could use bioenergy to push for rural development. “In food security terms, bioenergy only makes sense if we know where the food-insecure populations are located and what they need to improve their livelihoods. Environmentally, we must make sure that both large- and small-scale producers of bioenergy fully take into account both the negative and positive impacts,” said Alexander Müller, Head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Natural Resources Management and Environment Department.

The experts agreed to accelerate development of tools for analyzing the food security and environmental impacts of bioenergy production as well as to strengthen data and information needed by countries to assess their bioenergy potential and identify hot spots for development. They also emphasized that bioenergy crops that compete with land and water for food production should not be grown in areas facing food security challenges. “The objective is bioenergy that is environmentally sustainable and socially equitable…It is a challenge that can and must be faced.”

Read the press release at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000540/index.html.