Introducing the International Bioenergy Platform (IBEP)

The International Bioenergy Platform (IBEP) is being presented to the international community in the energy, agriculture and environment sectors as a mechanism for organizing and facilitating a multidisciplinary and global approach. IBEP is expected to provide analysis and information for policy and decision-making support; to build and strengthen institutional capacity at all levels; to enhance access to energy services from sustainable bioenergy systems; and to facilitate opportunities for effective international exchange and collaboration.

Four out of five people without electricity in the world live in the rural areas of developing countries. In many African, Asian and Latin American countries, rural women have to carry around 20 kg of fuelwood for kilometres every day. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 92 percent of the rural population is without electricity.The number of people living on less than US$1/day is about the same as the number of those lacking access to commercial energy: two thousand million people. Extending an electricity supply grid to remote households in a rural setting can mean costs of up to US$0.70 per kilowatt-hour, seven times the cost of providing electricity in an urban area.

In this context, the availability of more bioenergy in its two main forms — wood energy and agro-energy — can help provide cleaner energy services to meet basic energy requirements.

This century could see a significant switch, from a fossil-fuel-based to a bioenergy-based economy, with agriculture and forestry as the main sources of biomass for biofuels such as fuelwood, charcoal, wood pellets, bio-ethanol, biodiesel and bio-electricity.

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