Over the last few years, there has been growing interest in bioenergy, due in part to its potential for rural development and climate change mitigation, and as an energy alternative given the high price of oil. At the same time, concerns regarding the potential negative impacts of bioenergy have also grown and have led to the development of a range of voluntary standards aimed at ensuring the sustainability of bioenergy production. While one of the goals of voluntary standards is to enhance the sustainability of bioenergy production including from a socio-economic perspective they might also present a disincentive for incorporating smallholders in value chains, due to greater cost and complexity. FAO's Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators project conducted three case studies to examine the opportunities and challenges for smallholders presented by: 1) bioenergy as a new type of value chain, and by 2) bioenergy certification schemes.

The FAO’s Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) project has compiled a set of thirty relevant and methodologies that can be used assess, during both planning and monitoring,the main environmental and socioeconomic impacts of bioenergy. The results can development of a sustainable bioenergy sustainable operations. Modern bioenergy development, through its environmental and socio-economic impacts, may have positive or negative effects (both direct and indirect) on the four dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability. For instance, bioenergy may create new employment and incomegenerating opportunities, with positive effects on people’s access to food. At the same time, if good practices are not implemented,bioenergy production may lead to negative impacts, for example,on the productive capacity of land or on water availability and quality, with negative repercussions for food security.

In this issue of the NR Newsletter, we welcome 2012 as the UN-declared International Year of Energy for All, an opportunity to concentrate global attention on the challenges facing both developed and developing countries when addressing access to and efficient use of sustainable energy sources. We also take a look at an interesting land tenure project that aims to bring advanced technology land registration systems to developing countries, through low-cost open-source software. And finally, we review lessons learned and major achievements of a successful transboundary water management project in the Nile Basin.