| GBEP welcomes new Chair and looks at bioenergy-water links: updates from annual GBEP meetings
At the 17th GBEP Steering Committee, held on 14 November, members welcomed Jamaica as a new Observer and Mr Francesco La Camera, Director General at the Italian Ministry of the Environment Land and Sea, as new Chair under the re-confirmed Co-Chairmanship of Italy and Brazil for the biennium 2015-2016.
The days preceding the Steering Committee saw a number of events which paved the way for the progress of the GBEP’s programme of work in the next future. On 10-11 November a workshop was held on “Introduction to AGLINK-COSIMO model for the measurement of Indicator 10”, which deals with the effects of bioenergy use and domestic production on the price and supply of a national food basket. During this workshop the Trade and Markets Division of FAO (Economic and Social Development Department) presented the Agricultural Outlook and the Partial Equilibrium model used for the preparation of the AGLINK-COSIMO model. The model has been used to measure the Tier III component of the GBEP Indicator 10, and the workshop gave a demonstration of this measurement, based on the outcomes of the project “Pilot Testing the GBEP Sustainability Indicators in Indonesia” led by FAO. The project, which has come to conclusion this September, provided numerous interesting lessons of the practicality of the GBEP indicators (see different item in this newsletter).
On 12 and 13 November the Partnership discussed over its current and future work in the framework of the 6th meeting of its Working Group on Capacity Building (WGCB). In particular, it was proposed and discussed to establish a new Activity Group (AG6) on “Bioenergy and Water” and to hold the third “Bioenergy Week” (in the context of the Activity Group 3) in Asia in 2015, with the Government of Indonesia offering to host the event. Both proposals were successively endorsed by the Steering Committee. The Activity Group 4 presented the report “Towards sustainable modern wood energy development” (read more on these three topics in a different item)
Furthermore, the WGCB saw an interesting session, in the context of the Activity Group 2, in which experiences and lessons learned from the implementation of the GBEP indicators in Argentina, Egypt, Jamaica, Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia were shared. This session gave the opportunity to discuss a list of common conclusions and lessons learnt from the implementation of the GBEP Indicators in the different contexts and completion statuses, which ultimately resulted in the agreement to draft a proposal of the scope of work for the production of an Implementation Guide on the use of the GBEP Sustainability Indicators for Bioenergy. This draft proposal will be submitted to the AG2 members by February/March 2015.
Finally, Partners and Observers were briefed about the status of the Activity Group 5 - “The Global Renewable Energy Atlas – Bioenergy Component”. They were presented by the AG5 leader, IRENA, with an overview of the activities developed by the group and in particular on the work done to assess the limitations of mapping sustainability parameters of bioenergy production through the use of the GBEP Indicators. The Working Group acknowledged the work made by the Activity Group 5 and thanked IRENA for its leadership. It was agreed that no additional work on mapping related matters is foreseen and to therefore close the Activity Group 5. To facilitate knowledge sharing of the capacity building work done, a final report will be developed and submitted to the next GBEP Steering Committee.
The WGCB meeting was followed by a half day Round Table with private sector on “How to develop a sustainable bioenergy sector through a collaborative approach”. Aiming at facilitating dialogue and mutual cooperation towards the common goal of sustainable development of bioenergy, the event presented on recent developments in the programme of work of the UN “Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All)” initiative. The SE4All initiative aims at bridging investors, implementers and interested countries to speed up sustainable bioenergy deployment and is focusing, inter alia, on several “High impact opportunities” (HIOs), some of which are relevant for bioenergy, in particular the one on “Sustainable Bioenergy” co-chaired by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Several private sector and stakeholder representatives, among which APLA, CiBiogas, Neste Oil, NextSteppe, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Winrock International and World Business Council on Sustainable Development, showcased their work and expectations on bioenergy and had the chance to begin discussions with GBEP members on best alternatives for deployment of commercial scale bioenergy projects. The Roundtable discussion represented a very good opportunity to confirm the GBEP and HIO members’ support to the SE4All initiative, as well as to stress the importance of working together towards sustainable bioenergy playing a key role not only in bringing universal access to modern energy services, but also in transitioning countries away from the unsustainable use of traditional biomass for cooking and heating
Presentations and outcomes of the meetings can be found on the GBEP website.
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