FAO offers bioenergy guidelines

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has released guidance documents and policymaking tools to assist governments in ensuring rural communities can benefit from bioenergy development and also that biofuel crop production does not threaten food security or impact negatively on indigenous peoples. Deforestation due to land conversion is also an issue of concern.

'Development of bioenergy must be carefully managed, and meeting social goals like sustainable rural development, poverty alleviation and food security should be guiding principles,' says Alexander Mueller, FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources Management and Environment.

FAO's Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) Project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. The scheme includes processes such as assessing environmental and socioeconomic impacts of bioenergy production; indicators that can be measured when doing so; recommendation of good practices, and policy measures for promoting sustainable bionenergy development.