Bioenergy and Sustainability

Over the past years, there has been a rapid expansion of biofuel development in many Asian countries. A number of governments are promoting biofuel programmes, mainly to achieve energy security, meet the increasing demand for ...

Whether or not bioenergy can deliver on the objectives without creating new and additional pressures depends largely on the existence of a robust and inclusive national planning process and project design and management.Bioenergy has received ...

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Biofuels can provide a number of ecosystem services (e.g. fuel, climate regulation) but also compromise other ecosystem services (e.g. food, freshwater services) and biodiversity which are ...

Food and fuel production are intricately interconnected. In a carbon-smart society, it is imperative to produce both food and fuel sustainably. Integration of the emerging biorefinery concept with other industries can bring many environmental deliverables ...

Ensuring that benefits of bioenergy development materialise and risks are mitigated requires robust policies and processes. Designing these policies and processes with a multi-stakeholder approach helps identify and address the risks, and different interests and ...

Lack of access to modern energy services is a serious hindrance to economic and social development and must be overcome if the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved. This report - which ...

Wood energy is the dominant source of energy for over 2 billion people, particularly in households in developing countries. Biofuels, especially fuelwood and charcoal, currently provide more than 14 percent of the world’s total primary ...

Land grabbing is a broad term, which in the current debates refers to the large-scale acquisition of land in developing countries by (foreign) companies or governments. These acquisitions have the positive potential to inject investment ...

The African continent is increasingly being seen as a source of agricultural land and natural resources for the rest of the world.National governments and private companies are obtaining access to land across the continent to ...

Recent increases in production of crop-based (or first-generation) biofuels have engendered increasing concerns over potential conflicts with food supplies and land protection, as well as disputes over greenhouse gas reductions. This has heightened a sense ...