11 January 2011 The Government of Thailand, through its Alternative Energy Development Plan, has set a target to increase biofuel production to five billion litres by 2022. The Thai Government sees this expansion as a way to strengthen the country’s energy security, foster rural development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The FAO Bioenergy and Food Security (BEFS) project aims to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to balance the trade-offs associated with bioenergy development and mitigate the impact of bioenergy on food security. The analysis presented in this document includes the main findings and recommendations for policymakers on how to achieve Thailand’s envisaged biofuel targets in a sustainable way without threatening food security. The targets are found to impact on Thailand’s future agricultural outlook and lead to additional utilization of Thailand’s natural resources. Growth of the sector in line with the targets has the potential to affect the national economy and households through various channels such as the price of food made from biofuel feedstock crops. How the Thai Government manages the potential pressures that the bioenergy sector will exert on its natural resources and agricultural markets and the general populace will determine the future sustainability of biofuels and bioenergy as alternative energy sources in Thailand. Full details of the methodologies and data employed to produce the material in this document are being published in a separate volume entitled “Bioenergy and Food Security – The BEFS analysis for Thailand”. [more...]

11 January 2011 This report presents the policy implications and considerations for rural development arising from the technical results generated in the implementation of the BEFS Analytical Framework in Peru. The policy work identifies key issues in rural development and bioenergy. The analysis presents a range of strategies needed in supporting rural development through bioenergy in the country where this is a feasible proposition. The report consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 explains the context of the Bioenergy and Food Security Project in Peru. Chapter 2 synthesises the Bioenergy and Food Security Policy Landscape in Peru. Chapter 3 shows how the BEFS technical results are used to orient bioenergy policy development. Chapter 4 presents an alternative approach for rural development and bioenergy. [more...]

11 January 2011 El análisis presentado en este documento describe la implementación del Marco Analítico BEFS en Perú. El objetivo principal del reporte Compendio Técnico titulado Bioenergía y Seguridad Alimentaria Aplicación del Análisis de BEFS en Perú es demostrar como la utilización de estas herramientas proporciona un marco para analizar los temas que conciernen bioenergía y seguridad alimentaria. Los resultados que surgen del análisis no deberían ser considerados como definitivos sino que proporcionan indicaciones sólidas para identificar prioridades políticas. Los análisis técnicos presentados en el reporte deben ser vistos desde una óptica de análisis de entrada o base y, sobre todo, demostrativo de las herramientas del análisis. El Compendio Técnico incluye dos volúmenes. En el Volumen I titulado Bioenergía y Seguridad Alimentaria Aplicación del Análisis de BEFS en Perú: Resultados y Conclusiones se describen los resultados técnicos obtenidos por cada estudio temático. En el volumen II titulado Bioenergía y Seguridad Alimentaria Aplicación del Análisis de BEFS en Perú: Metodología se detallan las herramientas o metodologías utilizadas en cada estudio. [more...]

10 August 2010 This document compiles together three technical reviews on Agriculture Trade policies in Peru, Tanzania and Thailand, the three countries that the Bioenergy and Food Security (BEFS) project is currently working in. The technical compendium provides technical details of agriculture trade policies for specific selected crops in the three BEFS countries and can be a useful source when seeking information relating to technical details on agriculture trade policies. [more...]

21 July 2010 This guide is intended to direct extension service advisors and institutions who work with small‐scale farmers and foresters with an interest in Carbon Finance and Carbon Projects. Its aim is to support setting‐up carbon projects involving small‐scale farmers. Their participation allows them to be involved in the development and implementation of the projects, influence the design of the project to generate positive impacts for the farmers and increase their knowledge about carbon finance. [more...]

18 February 2010 This study was conducted between September and November 2008 under a joint initiative of FAO and the Policy Innovations Systems for Clean Energy Security (PISCES) Energy Research Programme Consortium funded by DFID. The focus of the study was on the impacts that different types of local level Bioenergy initiatives can have on Rural Livelihoods in different contexts in the developing world. Livelihoods are understood as the enhancement of the full range of natural, financial, human, social and physical capitals on a sustainable ongoing basis. The 15 cases were selected from 12 countries in six regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia. Cases were selected to highlight the use of a range of bioenergy resources, including natural bioresources, bioresidues from existing agricultural, forestry or industrial activities; and biofuels (solid and liquid) from purpose grown energy crops. The initiatives match these resources to a range of energy needs including cooking, mobility, productive uses and electricity for lighting and communication - thereby highlighting the scope of bioenergy applications. The approach taken also considers the non-energy by-products of production processes where these form, or could form, a significant added benefit in terms of livelihoods, revenues and efficiency. The case study approach combines a Market Systems perspective, the “4Rsâ€Â Framework of Relationships, Rights, Responsibilities and Revenues to the actors in the system, assessment of the impacts of the initiatives on the Livelihoods Assets of the actors in the chain, and consideration of the sustainability of these impacts. In the final part of the study preliminary conclusions are drawn and recommendations on future areas of work are made. [more...]

11 January 2010 Current (2000) and projected (2015) woodfuel consumption patterns and supply potentials in continental Southeast Asia are analysed and mapped applying the Woodfuel Integrated Supply/Demand Overview Mapping (WISDOM) methodology. Combined with poverty data, the study helps define areas where poor rural and suburban populations that depend primarily on woodfuels for their subsistence energy supply are likely to suffer severe shortages, adding an indicator to the mapping of extreme poverty and a new tool for poverty alleviation policies and forestry and energy development planning. Integrating several cartographic layers with multi-source field data provides maps of woody biomass stocking and potential sustainable productivity in 2000 and 2015 at a spatial resolution of less than 1 km. Woody biomass consumption maps matching the resolution of supply maps, coupled with likely population distribution in 2015 and model projections of woodfuel consumption, give future consumption scenarios. Combining these yields balance maps of woodfuel deficit and surplus areas. [more...]

18 June 2008 This monograph is part of a series of reports that explain and illustrate methods for applying spatial analysis techniques to investigate poverty and environment links worldwide. Analysing population distribution in relation to poverty and environmental factors is increasingly recognized as a valuable element in decision-making processes related to development issues. Accurately mapping and assessing vulnerable populations can provide a solid basis for recommendations on how best to reduce poverty and improve living conditions in developing countries.In this report, the various definitions of the terms ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ are reviewed, along with data from the United Nations and other sources, and various georeferenced sources are assessed for their usefulness to the geospatial analysis of population distribution. The report examines two widely used global georeferenced population datasets, reviews recent methodological developments for distinguishing urban and rural populations spatially and presents a method for creating an urban mask and determining variations in the distribution of urban and rural population, by pixel. The report concludes with a brief discussion of unresolved issues and future challenges. Finally, the Annex details a method for estimating global population distribution to the year 2015 using data from over 375 000 subnational units. [more...]

18 July 2007 Reconciling food production and nature conservation is a challenge shared by all. This document stresses the need to maximize the contribution of protected areas to food security and poverty alleviation through soundlymanaged agriculture.Farmers and forest dwellers, including a large proportion of indigenous people, are the main inhabitants and users of protected areas, as well as lands connecting these areas. In fact, 30 percent of land is occupied by agriculture and pastures and another 30 percent of Earth surface is occupied by forests. Protected areas occupy today some 10 percent of Earth cover, in a landscape dominated by the agriculture sector. Even within certain protected area categories, much land is used for agriculture (i.e. 30 percent of categories V and VI). More importantly, connecting areas between protected areas run through croplands, pastures and forests - which globally occupy over 60 percent of earth surface. [more...]

12 June 2006 Securing food and a livelihood is inextricably linked to the exploitation of the natural resources base (land, water and forest) in Ethiopia, where over 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas and depend on smallholder agriculture. The pressure of intense human activity and improper farming and management practices pose serious threats to the sustainability of the natural resources and maintaining ecological balance. There is a widespread problem related to intensive cultivation, overgrazing and deforestation and soil erosion and soil fertility decline, water scarcity, livestock feed and fuelwood crisis. These factors often interact with one another resulting in a reenforcing cycle of the poverty, food insecurity and natural resources degradation trap. This problem manifests itself in recurrent drought and famine affecting millions of people, particularly in the Ethiopian highlands. In order to address this problem, the paper puts forward a community-based integrated natural resources management, which makes a systematic effort to improve soil and land productivity; agroforestry development and other rural energy sources; low-cost rainwater harvesting; livestock improvement, and expanding the livelihood base in the non-farm sector under the existing National Extension Programme. [more...]