Bioenergy

 
Biofuels: prospects, risks and opportunities

The State of Food and Agriculture 2008 explores the implications of the recent rapid growth in production of biofuels based on agricultural commodities. The boom in liquid biofuels has been largely driven by policies in developed countries in support of climate-change mitigation, energy security and agricultural development. The growing demand for agricultural commodities for the production of biofuels is having significant repercussions on agricultural markets, and concerns are mounting over their negative impact on the food security of millions of people across the world.

• Go to the homepage of the publication The State of Food and Agriculture
• Read the executive summary
• Download the full publication
• Presentation of The State of Food and Agriculture 2008 - Biofuels: prospects, risks and opportunities  

Events

E-mail conference results
The FAO Working Group on Biotechnology and the FAO Working Group on Bioenergy organized a moderated e-mail conference (10 November - 14 December) on "The role of agricultural biotechnologies for production of bioenergy in developing countries". Sixty percent of the posted messages were by participants living in developing countries.

• The background document
• Messages from the conference
• Contact biotech-admin@fao.org for further information or to request all the messages as a single e-mail (size 135 KB)

FAO and bioenergy

Bioenergy and biofuel development have been issues of importance on FAO's agenda for decades. The topics are drawing attention again because of global concerns following high energy prices, environmental degradation, sustainability of current energy systems and the competition of food crops versus energy crops. A careful consideration of these and other factors and their linkages to bioenergy development must be carried out at local, national and international levels, based on proper information and understanding.

The access to adequate and affordable energy is one of the basic requirements for guaranteeing the wellbeing and development of rural populations on a sustainable basis. Nearly two billion people, mostly in rural areas of developing countries, are without electricity and rely on burning fuelwood for their household activities.

Bioenergy in general and wood energy in particular are the dominant sources of energy for about half of the world's population. FAO's wood energy programme promotes sustainable wood energy systems as a contribution to sustainable forest management, livelihoods and food security.