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FAO News on Bioenergy
News from the Global Bioenergy Partnership
FAO News on Bioenergy
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15 October 2009
The FAO’s Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) project will hold its first technical consultation from 2 to 4 November 2009, at FAO Headquarters in Rome. The consultation will discuss the links between bioenergy production and food security and will identify a preliminary set of principles, criteria and indicators on sustainable bioenergy production that safeguards food security. [more...]
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8 April 2009
Bioenergy, when produced on a small-scale in local communities, can play a significant role in rural development in poor countries, according to a new report jointly published by FAO and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). The study, “Small Scale Bioenergy Initiatives: Brief Description and Preliminary Lessons on Livelihood Impacts from Case Studies in Latin America, Asia and Africa,” covers 15 different “start-up” bioenergy projects from 12 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia involving a diverse array of technologies. [more...]
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27 February 2009
Demand from industry and climate change mitigation increase planted forest potentialWith two-thirds of potential industrial wood production available from planted rather than naturally occuring forests, the contribution of planted forests has become increasingly critical to future wood supplies, notes a new FAO study. “Planted forests also help counter the negative affects of global warming by absorbing up to 1.5 Gigatonnes of carbon every year, which is in parity with current emissions from deforestation,” says FAO’s Jim Carle, Chief of the Forest Resources Development Service and co-author of the study. [more...]
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12 February 2009
Despite bumper 2008 harvests, high prices persist in many poor countriesEarly indications point to a reduction in global cereal output in 2009 from the 2008 record, according to FAO's latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report. Smaller plantings and adverse weather look likely to bring grain production down in most of the world's major producers. While conditions are generally favourable for winter wheat throughout Europe and the United States, planted area in these countries has declined, reflecting the prospect of sharply reduced returns compared to last year, combined with persisting high input costs, the report said. [more...]
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17 October 2008
Climate change and bioenergy are the focus of this year’s World Food Day activities, expected to involve over 150 countries. FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945. [more...]
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8 October 2008
Biofuel policies and subsidies should be urgently reviewed in order to preserve the goal of world food security, protect poor farmers, promote broad-based rural development and ensure environmental sustainability, FAO said today in a new edition of its annual flagship publication The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2008. [more...]
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29 May 2008
Agricultural commodity prices should ease from their recent record peaks but over the next 10 years they are expected to average well above their mean levels of the past decade, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook from OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). [more...]
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22 May 2008
High food prices have particularly hit vulnerable populations in many countries that spend a substantial part of their income on food, according to a report released today by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). [more...]
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21 April 2008
Rapid increases in the large-scale production of liquid biofuels in developing countries could exacerbate the marginalization of women in rural areas threatening their livelihoods, according to a new FAO study. [more...]
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8 February 2008
A decision-support tool developed by FAO will help ensure that countries can enter the rapidly growing field of bioenergy industry to produce benefits for the poor without jeopardizing their food security. [more...]
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20 November 2007
The use of wood energy can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and can contribute to poverty reduction, FAO said today. But the agency warned that the use of wood for fuel can result in deforestation or forest degradation if sustainable forest management is not effectively practiced. [more...]
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13 November 2007
Capturing the full potential of biofuels means overcoming environmental and social constraints and removing trade barriers, which are hindering the development of a worldwide market, according to a new report released by the Global Bioenergy Parnership (GBEP). [more...]
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14 August 2007
Article of FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf featured in the Financial TimesMuch of the current debate on bioenergy, focusing on negative aspects such as sharply increased food prices and erosion of biodiversity, obscures the sector's huge potential to reduce hunger and poverty.If we get it right, bioenergy provides us with a historic chance to fast-forward growth in many of the world's poorest countries, to bring about an agricultural renaissance and to supply modern energy to a third of the world's population. [more...]
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8 May 2007
The fast-growing bioenergy industry offers many opportunities, but also involves a number of trade-offs and risks, the United Nations said today in its most comprehensive review of the likely impact of the emerging bioenergy market. [more...]
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23 April 2007
Top international experts met in Rome to consider the environmental and food security impact of the rapidly-expanding bioenergy industry and agreed that governments could use bioenergy as a positive force for rural development. [more...]
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16 April 2007
Amid growing debate over the possible consequences of large-scale bioenergy production, top international experts meet at FAO headquarters today to review present knowledge of the issue and suggest a road map for the way ahead. [more...]
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25 September 2006
The Secretariat of the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP), launched at the 14th Session of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in May 2006 in New York to promote the use of bioenergy, opened for business here this week. [more...]
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25 April 2006
Under the pressure of soaring oil prices and growing environmental constraints, momentum is gathering for a major international switch from fossil fuels to renewable bioenergy, according to FAO. [more...]
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8 July 2005
On the eve of the G-8 Summit in Scotland, where climate change and Africa were key subjects of discussion, natural resource experts met in Rome to discuss ways of giving poor countries incentives under the Kyoto Protocol to improve the use of fuelwood and reduce deforestation, loss of vegetation cover and land degradation. [more...]
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14 April 2005
Agriculture and forestry could become leading sources of bioenergy, a key element in achieving two of the UN Millenium Development Goals: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability, according to FAO. [more...]
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News from the Global Bioenergy Partnership
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2 November 2009
Ethiopia wants to emulate Brazil by developing biofuels to cut its dependence on oil imports that cost the Horn of Africa nation more than a billion dollars a year, a government official said. Ephrem... [more...]
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2 November 2009
The world's policymakers and scientists have made a critical error in how they count biofuels' contribution to human-generated greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a paper published on 22 October i... [more...]
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22 October 2009
In Latin America, Brazil is the leader in the development of renewable energies, while nations like Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina are taking slow steps to change their energy mix. "This is n... [more...]
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19 October 2009
The biofuels industry, hit hard by the global credit crunch, is getting a shot in the arm from a new sourceâthe oil majors. Among the oil companies, BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have been the m... [more...]
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19 October 2009
Countries must adopt a much more sophisticated approach to developing biofuels as a green energy option if they are to benefit the economy, the environment and society as a whole, the United Nations ... [more...]
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9 October 2009
In a significant shift in its stand ahead of the Copenhagen meeting, India has, for the first time, said reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions is as much a part of its climate change strategy as ... [more...]
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6 October 2009
Tanzania has suspended investments worth millions of dollars after a storm of protest over the eviction of farmers to make way for biofuels. The country will not start any new agrofuel project before... [more...]
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6 October 2009
Ghana is blessed with plant resources such as oil palm, maize, sugar cane, cassava and jatropha which can be processed into ethanol and biodiesel. However, recent development in biofuel production in... [more...]
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24 September 2009
Producing 70 percent more food for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, using scarce natural resources more efficiently and adapting to climat... [more...]
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24 September 2009
Text of President Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly on 23 September 2009, as released by the White House. [more...]
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24 September 2009
Transcript of the speech given on 22 September 2009 by President Hu Jintao of China to the United Nations General Assembly, as provided by the Federal News Service. [more...]
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23 September 2009
Denmark's Novozymes (NZYMb.CO), the world's biggest industrial enzyme producer, was hit harder than it expected in the financial crisis, but growing biofuel demand in China and elsewhere will underpi... [more...]
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25 August 2009
Africa is central to the worldwide growth in biofuels, with Dutch, American, Swedish, Japanese, German, and British firms all competing for farmland to grow the next generation of energy producing cr... [more...]
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21 August 2009
Nine new biofuel plants should come online in Colombia before the end of 2011, the presidential press office said in a statement, according to BNamericas. The new facilities include one biodiesel pla... [more...]
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21 August 2009
Mozambique's Council of Ministers approved in Maputo, on Tuesday, another two major projects for the production of biofuels, as part of Government's strategy to reduce dependence on imported fossil f... [more...]
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21 August 2009
Financial solutions for the emerging bio-energy industry and development of green energy (including sugar-based ethanol and bio-diesel) in the Dominican Republic were center stage in a recent meeting... [more...]
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21 August 2009
An unusual experiment featuring equal parts science, environmental optimism and Native American capitalist ambition is unfolding on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southwest Colorado. With the... [more...]
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19 August 2009
NASA research scientist Chad Paavola has a problem to solve: When astronauts leave the earth for long periods of time, theyâre going to need to produce plants for food and the air they breathe. Som... [more...]
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11 August 2009
Time is running short to agree a new treaty on global warming amid deep divisions over key issues, according to the UN's top climate official. Speaking at the start of the latest round of UN discussi... [more...]
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11 August 2009
United States Special Envoy for Climate Change Issues Todd Stern told senior visiting Chinese government officials that under the administration of President Barack Obama, climate change has "ri... [more...]
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last updated: Monday, June 2, 2008