Bioenergy – The impact of indirect land use change - Summary and conclusions from the IEA Bioenergy ExCo63 Workshop

Sep 2009

This publication provides the summary and conclusions from the workshop ‘Bioenergy – The Impact of Indirect Land Use Change’, held in conjunction with the meeting of the Executive Committee of IEA Bioenergy in Rotterdam on May 2009.
The purpose of the workshop was to inform the Executive Committee about the rapidly evolving international debate on bioenergy and land use (particularly the thorny issue of indirect land use change). Secondly the workshop was designed to identify the challenges and potential ways forward for policy development and cooperation.
Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) is a relatively new and complex area of research, involving the need to integrate a number of policy considerations (agriculture, environment, energy, society, biodiversity …), different stakeholders, and different regions. So far the field is still rather immature, with many unanswered questions and few firm conclusions, so it must be viewed as ‘work in progress’. Nonetheless current thinking and modelling can provide useful insights to reduce risks from ILUC.
The workshop concluded that there is further scope for improved methodologies and data that will provide a firmer basis for policies aimed at reducing risks due to adverse land use change impacts, and allow for better review as information becomes available.
It was also recognised that much new agricultural activity will require additional land, and that ILUC is an issue for all crops, not just bioenergy. There is therefore a need to integrate this ILUC discussion into agriculture in general and to improve agricultural practices. Improved agriculture productivity will allow increased output using less land and so reducing the LUC and ILUC risks. Improved agricultural growth will also lead to more carbon storage in the soil and so contribute to carbon sequestration. So there is a win-win possibility to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, create more biomass and more agricultural outputs on the same area, without risks of ILUC.

By: IEA Bioenergy

 
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