Impact of Increased Bioenergy Demand on Communities

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Table of Contents:

I.        Introduction:        

II.        Methodology:        

III.        Bioenergy        

IV.        Food Security        

V.        Impact of Bioenergy on Food Security:        

VI.        Policies for Sustainable Bioenergy Production:        

VII.        Conclusion:        

1. Introduction:

Efforts taken in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency measures are increasing in both developed and developing countries, and particularly in bioenergy. Bioenergy has become an essential tool in decision and policy making to enhance energy security, support rural developments and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. As a matter of fact, the use of biomass in the heat, power and transport sectors increased by 20% over the past 10 years to an estimated 55.6 EJ (REN21, 2014). Biomass energy production is expected to grow more in the coming years. According to IRENA, electricity generation from biomass, often combined with distinct heating would grow by 10%per year to account for nearly a third of global biomass demand by 2030- roughly triple its share in 2010 (IRENA, 2014). While the Millenium Development Goals tackle both eradicating hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability, the economic, social and environmental sustainability of bioenergy is still uncertain and ambiguous, as its development could negatively affect food security due to the competition it created for land availability and resources used in food production, especially given the fact that global population will reach 9.7 Billion by 2050 and will increase the demand of water, energy, land and all other resources. (FAO, 2010)(UN,2015), (UN, 2015) Biomass energy production is likely to have impacts on food prices and incomes as well. This being said, this paper will assess the impact of biomass production growth on the agricultural sector and food security and suggest a set of economic and policy suggestions and recommendations that could promote the sustainability of bioenergy development while enhancing the conditions of food security.

1. Methodology:

The assessment of the impacts of bioenergy on the four pillars of food security was done following two main approaches.

Approach 1: Literature Review

The main aim of this paper was to study the impact of increased bioenergy demand on communities (rural vs. urban, producers vs. consumers), through finding the relationship between bioenergy, food security and competition for resources (land and water).

Step 1: Determine the current bioenergy demand and the prospects of this technology. The main questions raised were: how big is the potential for bioenergy market, what are the competitive types of biomass, and what are the drivers for market expansion. The bioenergy market potentials were assessed by referring to different references such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) publications, the IRENA’s REMap 2030: A Renewable Energy Roadmap, the Renewables 2015 Global Status Report (REN21, 2015), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) publications and others.

Step 2: Defining Food Security and its main pillars. During this step, data was collected and analyzed on the four pillars of food security. Defining these pillars and their contribution to food security was crucial for assessing the impacts of bioenergy on the four pillars of food security.

Step 3: Initiating the link between food security and bioenergy. This step was the most challenging. Data was collected on the factors that determine the impacts of biomass on food security. The focus was on how bioenergy market expansion affects prices of agricultural commodities and in turn the impacts on incomes and impacts on the different categories of receptors (net-producing countries, net-consuming countries, net-producing households, net-consuming households).

Step 4: Investigation regulatory measures to harness bioenergy while preserving food security.  Research was done to find regulatory frameworks, taking developed countries as a reference, that ensure the sustainable development of the market, safeguard food security and maintain the poor’s benefits and rights to have access to food and resources. The policies’ section of the paper follows the Food and Agriculture Organization “Bioenergy and Food Security” (BEFS) approach, which assists policy makers to design and implement policies that would promote the growth of food and energy security and contribute to the development of rural and agricultural areas

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Approach 2: Interviews

An interview was conducted with Dr. Giuliano Martinello^[1], a professor in Rural Community Development at the American University of Beirut. The interview started by defing our research topic and our methodology of assessment. The main discussion was on how competition for land and change of the agriculture commodity prices might affect the communities, particularly vulnerable population.  Also, intentions were to benefit from the professor’s experience in international policies and food security to define a regulatory framework and propose policy priorities for bioenergy market.

1. Bioenergy

Bioenergy is one of the renewable energy sources in the world and globally it contributes to 10% of the world primary energy supply. Biomass is any organic matter that contains energy produced by photosynthesis. Biomass energy exists in plants and is transferred to animals and their waste through the food chain. As such, biomass energy sources are food crops, wood products, agriculture and forest residues, aquatic plants (oil-rich algae), organic matter of wastes and even gases from landfills (methane). Due to its low cost and abundance, biomass is widely used in developing countries mostly for cooking and heating purposes. The use of biomass energy ranges from fuel for transportation, power production and bioproducts. (IEA, 2015)