What is it about?
This paper synthesizes the outcomes a 2014 expert review workshop on biofuels and food security interactions, held in the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC. It re-assesses the complex interactions between food security, bioenergy sustainability and resource management and asks how they can best be managed to deliver sustainable solutions for global development. Although the workshop was originally convened to focus on biofuels, the authors broadened the scope to embrace bioenergy, including biofuels, to better reflected the real-world interactions across bioenergy and food systems. We highlight the potential synergies that can be generated by pursuing energy and food security goals in an integrated way.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Bioenergy can and should play an important role in enhancing the resilience of global food production systems. Achieving these benefits has been hindered by previous analyses which focussed on predicting the impacts of major biofuel programs. '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.'
Perspectives
This paper was the journal's most downloaded paper of 2016. Perhaps this is because it presents a deep and thoughtful reflection on the interactions between food security and bioenergy provision across all forms of bioenergy, for biofuels and for biomass for heat and electricity.
Dr Jeremy Woods
Imperial College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Reconciling food security and bioenergy: priorities for action, GCB Bioenergy, June 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/gcbb.12366.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
