Reconciling food security and bioenergy : priorities for action

• Autores: Kline, Keith L.; Msangi, Siwa; Dale, Virginia H.; Woods, Jeremy; Souza, Glaucia M.; Osseweijer, Patricia; Clancy, Joy S.; Hilbert, Jorge Antonio; Johnson, Francis X.; McDonnell, Patrick C.; Mugera, Harriet K.
• Año de publicación: 2017
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Fuente: GCB Bioenergy 9 (3) : 557-576 (March 2017)
• Materia: Energía Renovable; Bioenergía; Seguridad Alimentaria; Bioenergy; Renewable Energy; Food Security
• Institución: Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria

Understanding the complex interactions among food security, bioenergy sustainability, and resource management requires a focus on specific contextual problems and opportunities. The United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals place a high priority on food and energy security; bioenergy plays an important role in achieving both goals. Effective food security programs begin by clearly defining the problem and asking, ‘What can be done to assist people at high risk?’ 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. Applying sustainability guidelines to bioenergy will help achieve near- and long-term goals to eradicate hunger. Priorities for achieving successful synergies between bioenergy and food security include the following: (1) clarifying communications with clear and consistent terms, (2) recognizing that food and bioenergy need not compete for land and, instead, should be integrated to improve resource management, (3) investing in technology, rural extension, and innovations to build capacity and infrastructure, (4) promoting stable prices that incentivize local production, (5) adopting flex crops that can provide food along with other products and services to society, and (6) engaging stakeholders to identify and assess specific opportunities for biofuels to improve food security. Systematic monitoring and analysis to support adaptive management and continual improvement are essential elements to build synergies and help society equitably meet growing demands for both food and energy.
Inst. de Ingeniería Rural- IIR
Fil: Kline, Keith L. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Environmental Science Division, Climate Change Science Institute; Estados Unidos
Fil: Msangi, Siwa. International Food Policy Research Institute; Estados Unidos
Fil: Dale, Virginia H. ORNL. Environmental Science Division. Center for Bioenergy Sustainability; Estados Unidos
Fil: Woods, Jeremy. Imperial College London. Centre for Environmental Policy; Reino Unido
Fil: Souza, Glaucia M. Universidade de Sao Paulo. Instituto de Química; Brasil
Fil: Osseweijer, Patricia. Delft University of Technology. Department of Biotechnology; Holanda
Fil: Clancy, Joy S. University of Twente. CSTM; Holanda
Fil: Hilbert, Jorge Antonio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Centro de Investigaciones de Agroindustria. Instituto de Ingeniería Rural; Argentina
Fil: Johnson, Francis X. World Agroforestry Centre. Stockholm Environment Institute; Kenia
Fil: McDonnell, Patrick C. BEE Energy; Estados Unidos
Fil: Mugera, Harriet K. World Bank; Estados Unidos