March 2005

Interdepartmental Bioenergy Programme

Main Issues

Energy has historically been, and continues to be, an engine for development of Mankind. It can also be a source of environmental problems.

Energy services are vital to keep economic sectors and residential activities running. For the less developed layers of society, access to clean and affordable energy is essential for poverty alleviation through the supply of heat, light and power as well as a host of other benefits such as the generation of income and the improvement of urban and rural health.

Bioenergy¹ in general and wood energy in particular are the dominant sources of energy for about half of the world’s population who are the poor of the poorest, and who use this energy mainly for cooking. They have very limited access to other forms of energy such as electricity or liquid fuels.

Recently, awareness of the need to mitigate climate change has renewed the attention on bioenergy in both developing and industrialized countries as an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and locally available source of energy. Thus, bioenergy has emerged as a key factor in both developmental and environmental terms.

Considering that:

1. biomass-based fuels provide clean and efficient energy services in the solid, liquid, and gaseous forms for the production of heat, light and power,
2. new energy and environmental policies are being established for the promotion and development of bioenergy as an option to combat climate change;
3. in most developing countries, woodfuels still constitute the largest single source of energy mainly for cooking and heating while the use of energy for production and commercial purposes is rather limited;
4. world-wide, more than 50 percent of the wood consumed is used as fuel and that for some developing countries fuelwood represents over 80 percent of the wood consumed;
5. large untapped amounts of bioenergy sources such as bagasse (derived from sugar production processes) is being successfully used for combined heat and power while bioethanol locally produced can help to displace fossil fuels in the transportation sector;
6. sustainable production and utilization of bioenergy can help to diversify conventional agricultural and forestry activities and also enhance employment generation, education, water management, urban and rural public health, local self-sufficiency, and a host of other development benefits.

However, in many countries the following can be noted:

1. lack of understanding and appreciation of the potential of bioenergy as locally available, affordable, potentially clean and environmentally friendly sources of energy by policy-makers and planners;
2. bioenergy is neglected in political, economic and social agendas and is not integrated into agriculture and forestry policies and programmes
3. forestry and agricultural technical organizations do not give due attention to the promotion, development, management and utilization of biomass energy resources;
4. current institutional, legal and regulatory restrictions hamper bioenergy development, production, trade and utilisation;
5. little attention is given to the introduction and distribution of modern, efficient and clean bioenergy production systems.

Consequently, the results are that:

1. a large part of rural populations in developing countries continue to barely cover their energy subsistence needs, and remain without access to energy for enhancing their productive activities;the high potential of bioenergy remains untapped in most developing and industrialized countries;



2. bioenergy is not being properly addressed by the agriculture, forestry and energy sectors in the context of recent global issues such as globalization, environmental pressures, restructuring of the energy sector and fears about sustainability;



3. the national, regional and international capabilities of both public and private sectors of forestry and agricultural agencies are insufficient for the promotion, development and implementation of bioenergy initiatives;



4. these sectors have not been properly involved in the energy-related international negotiations of CSD or the Millennium Development Goals;



5. agriculture and forestry policies are missing diversification opportunities which could lead to higher production and productivity through bioenergy production and use;



6. current economic analysis practices in the preparation of agricultural development programmes do not take into account the value of bioenergy production (fuelwood; charcoal) in bush-fallow farming systems;



7. many institutional, economic, technical, social and environmental barriers and constraints still exist for the full use of bioenergy potentialities;



8. the macro and micro benefits of bioenergy production and use related to social and environmental sustainability at local, national, regional and global levels are still not achieved;



9. farmers are not properly prepared to invest in new bioenergy initiatives where new technologies and practices could complement conventional ones;



10. potential new funds derived from bioenergy activities for climate change mitigation, fight against desertification and biodiversity protection are not being tapped;



11. efficiency levels of bioenergy production, processing and utilization, such as for fuelwood, charcoal, agro-residues and livestock manure are generally low, especially in the domestic and small-scale industries sectors (cooking stoves, charcoal kilns, etc.);



12. incomplete combustion of bioenergy sources due to traditional technology results in low efficiency rates and indoor pollution causing health problems and environmental degradation;



13. reliable national resource and production data on biomass and bioenergy to support policy-making processes are often not available.

The WSSD and Bioenergy

The representatives of the countries of the world, assembled at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa from 2-4 September 2002, reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable development through “The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development” and specifically addressed the bioenergy issue in several parts of the WSSD Plan of Implementation (PI), emphasizing that “access to energy facilitates the eradication of poverty”.

The following are relevant paragraphs of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation:

Chapter II (Poverty eradication), para. 9 (b) Improve access to modern biomass technologies and fuelwood sources and supplies and commercialize biomass operations, including the use of agricultural residues, in rural areas and where such practices are sustainable;

Para 9(c) Promote a sustainable use of biomass and, as appropriate, other renewable energies through improvement of current patterns of use, such as management of resources, more efficient use of fuelwood and new or improved products and technologies;

Para 20 (g) Develop and utilize indigenous energy sources and infrastructures for various local uses and promote rural community participation, …

Chapter IV (Protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development) para. 38: “… reaffirmed the commitment to support The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as the key instrument for the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere…” task in which bioenergy can play a major mitigation role as substitute of fossil fuels.

Para 45:”Forests and trees cover nearly one third of the Earth’s surface. Sustainable forest management of both natural and planted forests and for timber and non-timber products is essential to achieving sustainable development as well as a critical means to eradicate poverty, significantly reduce deforestation, halt the loss of forest biodiversity and land and resource degradation and improve food security and access to safe drinking water and affordable energy”.

FAO’s View

FAO is aware that the above mentioned environmental and energy issues and approaches will lead to a higher demand of bioenergy sources in many developing and industrialized countries. It is also aware that conventional agricultural and forestry sectors will have to face radical changes to overcome the main challenges generated by a potentially soaring need to produce energy from biomass. New policies will have to be enacted and the existing institutional arrangement, of both public and private sectors, will need urgent adjustments to the new conditions of bioenergy production, trade and use. The following are some of the key concepts guiding FAO in the field of bioenergy:

FAO

1. recognises the potential role of forest (Wood Energy) and agro-biomass (Agro-Energy) as locally available and environmentally friendly sources of energy;



2. promotes a sustainable use of biomass and, as appropriate, other renewable energies through improvement of current patterns of use, such as management of resources, more efficient use and new or improved products and technologies;



3. notes that access to reliable, affordable, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound bioenergy sources could become a relevant factor for equitable socio-economic development;



4. is aware that the production, trade and use of bioenergy sources can contribute towards a more gender-balanced rural employment and income, strengthen rural livelihood systems, create alternative income for food insecure farmers and thus attain better levels of food security;



5. recognizes, in particular where the lack of energy has been identified as a real constraint, the importance of new and/or improved technologies for bioenergy production and utilization at competitive market prices and the need for technology transfer between countries and regions;



6. is aware of the threat to forests and trees outside forests if fuelwood is used in an indiscriminately and unsustainable way, resulting in forest degradation or deforestation, deterioration of watersheds, and loss of soil fertility and of biodiversity;



7. notes that a substitution of fossil fuels through an increased utilization of bioenergy sources can contribute towards a cleaner environment, reduction of emissions and the mitigation of climate change;



8. acknowledges the need to raise awareness and assist both public and private sectors in the development of policies and strategies that include the sustainable production and utilization of bioenergy;



9. promotes the development of national energy policies and regulatory frameworks that will create the necessary economic, social and institutional conditions to improve cost effectiveness and access to bioenergy services for sustainable development and poverty eradication in rural, peri-urban and urban areas;



10. recognizes the need to build national and regional capabilities for bioenergy planning exercises, policy development and decision-making tools based on country level data on bioenergy;



11. sees its work in the area of sustainable production and rational utilization of bioenergy in the context of its contribution towards the implementation of the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, the Millennium Development Goals as well as the conventions on Climate Change, Biodiversity, Combating Desertification, and other energy-related international agreements;



12. notes the need to assist the public and private sectors of member countries in promoting bioenergy as a cross-sectoral concern and an essential element for the diversification of both forestry and agricultural activities as a transition to sustainable development.

FAO’s Comparative Advantage

FAO has a long-standing global mandate from its member countries on the promotion of wood energy and agro-energy within the agricultural, forestry, and related energy demanding and/or producing sectors. FAO avails of the necessary multidisciplinary expertise in the different areas of agriculture, forestry and economy to comply with this mandate. For many years, FAO has been developing multidisciplinary approaches and providing technical expertise in the field of energy, in particular, bioenergy.

Through its normative work and field projects, FAO has developed methodologies and definitions, management and analysis of databases, assisted member countries in the development of nationally and regionally specialized bioenergy studies, and of energy policies. A database on production, trade and consumption of woodfuels at country level has been regularly maintained and updated since 1961, representing one of the most complete time series available.

Proposal: An Interdepartmental Bioenergy Programme

In accordance to its mandate, FAO recognizes the need for a better response by the international community to the energy needs in developing countries, in particular in rural and remote areas.

FAO sees its work in the area of sustainable generation and rational utilization of bioenergy in the context of its contribution to the goals of the World Food Summit, the Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification and the WSSD “Plan of Implementation”, where bioenergy re-emerged as a major issue in the international agenda and as an essential ingredient for sustainable development, poverty alleviation and a host of other benefits such as the generation of income and the improvement of urban and rural health.

FAO has considerable “dormant “expertise in areas directly and indirectly related to bioenergy, which this new initiative is designed to mobilize. No other international organization is in a better position than FAO to launch and guide a global initiative of this kind.

It is therefore suggested that an Interdepartmental Bioenergy Programme be launched.

The main objectives of FAO’s Interdepartmental Bioenergy Programme would be:

• to promote sustainable bioenergy systems for poverty alleviation; and



• to assist member countries in the integration of wood energy and agro energy into agriculture, forestry and rural energy development efforts.

FAO Bioenergy Programmes will be based on two main components:

• Wood Energy
• Agro-Energy

¹ Bioenergy: all energy produced from biofuels. Biofuel: fuel produced directly or indirectly from biomass. Biomass: material of biological origin (excluding material embedded in geological formations and transformed to fossil), such as: fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural wastes and by-products, energy crops, livestock manure, biogas, biohydrogen, bioalcohol, microbial biomass, and others.