Building on FAO’s work on good practices in agriculture and forestry, BEFS has compiled a set of good environmental practices that can be implemented by bioenergy feedstock producers so as to minimize the risk of negative environmental impacts from their operations, and to ensure that modern bioenergy delivers on its climate change mitigation potential.
The good practices compiled are divided into three main groups.
- The first group is comprised of agricultural management approaches (namely Ecosystem Approach, Conservation Agriculture and Organic Agriculture), which provide comprehensive and holistic frameworks and principles of sustainable agriculture.
- The second group consists of integrated, sustainable agricultural and forestry management systems, namely Agroforestry, Integrated Food-Energy Systems, and Multiple Cropping Systems and Crop Rotation.
- The third group includes a broad range of field-level agricultural and forestry practices that can be implemented on the ground by bioenergy feedstock producers, such as No- or Minimum Tillage, Integrated Pest Management, and Integrated Plant Nutrient Management.
This table contains a wide range of examples of Good Environmental Practices from around the world.
Good Socio-economic practices
In order to ensure that modern bioenergy development is sustainable and that it safeguards food security, a number of good practices can be implemented throughout the bioenergy supply chain.
BEFS carried out a survey of bioenergy producers in order to gather examples of the implementation of good socio-economic practices in this sector. The main socio-economic dimensions that may be impacted by bioenergy production are:
- access to land
- employment, wages and labour conditions
- income generation and inclusion of smallholders
- local food security
- community development
- energy security
- local access to energy
- gender equity
If proper policy instruments and incentives are not in place, the costs of implementing these practices might be too high for producers.
BEFS has identified a range of policy instruments that can be used to require or promote – either directly or indirectly – good environmental and socio-economic practices in bioenergy feedstock production.
These instruments can be grouped into four main categories:
1. Mandates with sustainability requirements,
2. National standards for certification,
3. Financial incentives
4. Capacity building
The viability and effectiveness of these instruments in a certain country will depend on a number of factors, including the financial resources available, and the administrative and enforcement capacity of the government.