The Environment, Climate Change and Bioenergy Division assists member countries in their responses towards the challenge of climate change, including the mitigation of climate change, as well as the development of adaptive capacities of agriculture, fisheries and forestry to the effects of climate change. The Division serves as the focal point for a multidisciplinary and global approach to bioenergy; and provides support and services in the use of spatial data, remote sensing and GIS techniques. The Division acts as secretariat for the FAO Interdepartmental Working Groups on Climate Change and on Bioenergy.

Bioenergy

FAO’s work in this area focuses on the potential of bioenergy to contribute to poverty alleviation, food security and climate change mitigation. The Division serves as focal point for organizing and facilitating a multidisciplinary and global approach to bioenergy. The work on bioenergy aims to generate information in support of decision-making for sustainable bioenergy development; to build and strengthen institutional capacity at all levels; to enhance access to energy services through sustainable bioenergy systems; and to facilitate opportunities for effective international exchange and collaboration.

Projects such as the Bioenergy and Food Security (BEFS) Project aim at mainstreaming food security concerns into bioenergy policies, programs and projects at international, national and local levels. In particular, BEFS assists countries such as Tanzania, Thailand and Peru in assessing and addressing food security concerns in their national bioenergy policies. Building on the findings of BEFS, the Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators Project (BEFSCI) aims to develop and build consensus upon a set of criteria and indicators on sustainable bioenergy production that safeguards food security

In addition FAO is a key partner to the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP), an international initiative established to implement the commitments taken by the G8 Leaders in the 2005, and host its secretariat. GBEP is a forum where voluntary cooperation works towards consensus amongst governments, intergovernmental organizations and other partners in the areas of the sustainability of bioenergy and its contribution to sustainable development, climate change mitigation and, energy and food security.

Thematic website: Bioenergy

Climate Change

Achieving sufficient food production for a growing population becomes an even greater challenge when faced with possible impacts of climate change. For millions of people living in fragile ecosystems, climate change can greatly increase the risk of crop failure and loss of livestock. Climate change will most likely have the strongest impact on the most vulnerable and food-insecure countries, those least resilient to heightened irregularity of weather phenomenon and increased extreme events. The Division works in a variety of areas to help member countries adapt to the consequences of climate change, including disaster risk management. This assistance is made available through a variety of approaches, including technical support and capacity building, policy tools, institutional strengthening, guidelines and good practices and provision of basic data and information. It also develops projects to work with farmers most at risk and to help them to adapt to these changing conditions.

But agriculture is also part of the solution when it comes to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Agricultural and environmental agendas must be closely linked to ensure that agriculture contributes to climate change mitigation, reduces emissions and sequesters carbon in the soil. Emissions can also be reduced by sustainable agricultural practices and FAO promotes approaches and initiatives aimed at reducing emission, including its coordination role of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD Programme).

Thematic website: Climate Change

Environmental Assessment and Management

An important aspect of environmental and natural resources management is the availability of geo-referenced data and information that describes these resources. Remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and agrometeorological and other environmental observations assist in acquiring and processing such data for addressing a variety of key issues related to environment and natural resources management, food production and food security, coastal zone monitoring, desertification, biological diversity, energy and climate change impact. Geo-referenced data from other sources, for example, socio-economic data, can also be combined with such environmental data for more in-depth analyses.

Geoinformation, monitoring and assessment includes all aspects of geoinformation data acquisition, analysis and dissemination, such as the activities themselves and the tools and techniques used. For the general storage and dissemination of geoinformation the Division has developed a digital map repository Geonetwork. Specialized activities and their websites include Climpag, "CLimate IMPact on AGriculture", the Global Terrestrial Observing System – GTOS, the Africover project and the Global Land Cover Network – GLCN

Gateway website: Geo-Information