Thumbnail Image

How to mainstream sustainability and circularity into the bioeconomy?

A compendium of bioeconomy good practices and policies

Year of publication 2021

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 132 p.

Author Gomez San Juan, M.; Bogdanski, A.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Book (series)

ISBN 978-92-5-134726-3

Series title Environment and Natural Resources Management Working Paper

Series number 89

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) In its 2020 communiqué, the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy has urged to strengthen good practices and policies to advance the global bioeconomy. The transition from a fossil-based economy to a bioeconomy happens at three levels: technological, organizational and social. In particular, agri-food systems are key to achieve a shift to sustainable and circular production and consumption patterns, since they occupy the biggest share of the bioeconomy from an economic, value-added perspective as well as having potential for discovery and innovation. This Compendium outlines 250 sources of good practices and policies. It covers the entire continuum of economic sectors that have a stake in biological knowledge and resources. The Compendium, therefore, highlights the wide range of aspects that are included in the concept of the bioeconomy. Being an inherently multisectoral process that involves potential synergies and trade-offs among different sustainability objectives, the implementation of bioeconomy strategies presents greater challenges than activities that are focused on a single sector. The report also shows how good practices and policies contribute to the translation of bioeconomy strategies into coordinated actions for the achievement of local priorities and sustainability goals, while also addressing global issues. Overall, the review identifies a knowledge gap: Assessments do not always indicate if practices and policies have enough evidence of impact to be recommended as models that contribute to sustainability objectives of the bioeconomy. To address this, a context-specific approach described in Chapter 5, provides support for countries to make evidence-based decisions on policies and investments for the bioeconomy. The approach helps to identify good practices and policies ex-ante, which can help achieve common sustainability objectives of bioeconomy strategies that were presented in the 2019 FAO report, Towards sustainable bioeconomy - Lessons learned from case studies. Taken together, this Compendium and the 2019 report, provide practical guidelines and resources that can support decision-makers and stakeholders in bioeconomy systems to make progress towards reaching sustainable outcomes.

Cite this content as:

Gomez San Juan, M. & Bogdanski, A. 2021. How to mainstream sustainability and circularity into the bioeconomy? A compendium of bioeconomy good practices and policies. Rome, FAO. 

https://doi.org/10.4060/cb5798en

Read on Google Books and buy online

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Booklet
    Sustainable and circular bioeconomy in the climate agenda: Opportunities to transform agrifood systems 2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The bioeconomy offers opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the agrifood system by replacing fossil-based resources and processes with biological ones, from microbiome innovations, biofertilizers and biopesticides, to alternative proteins, bio-based plastics and textiles, and biological waste management, to name just a few. A sustainable and circular bioeconomy also presents opportunities to improve climate change adaptation and resilience, through promoting ecosystem restoration, supporting indigenous and local livelihoods based on biological products and services, and building the conditions for more sustainably managed forests and fisheries. Several countries have identified circular bioeconomy as a strategy to achieve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), some have included bioeconomy practices in their climate agenda, and others explicitly include bioeconomy strategies and policies as key elements in their pathway towards Paris Agreement targets. FAO works with countries to improve policy coherence in order to achieve national sustainability objectives. Climate action is specifically referenced as a key criterion in the aspirational principles and criteria for a sustainable bioeconomy, produced by the FAO-led International Sustainable Bioeconomy Working Group (ISBWG).
  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Bioeconomy for a sustainable future 2021
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This brochure describes what the bioeconomy is. It looks at how the bioeconomy can contribute to sustainable production and consumption and resource-use efficient agri-food systems in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner and what the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is doing to support this.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    Forest products in the global bioeconomy
    Enabling substitution by wood-based products and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals
    2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This report addresses the role of forest products in replacing fossil-based and GHG-intensive products. The overarching objective is to provide recommendations to strengthen the contribution of substitution by forest products to sustainable development. To that end, this report firstly provides an overview of the understanding of the bioeconomy and the role of forest products across the world. Secondly, we present examples of conventional and innovative forest products and describe their role in the bioeconomy. Thirdly, we present a review of the quantitative and qualitative understanding of the environmental impacts and benefits of substituting fossil fuel-based or -intensive products with forest-based products, and of the contribution of substitution to SDGs. Fourthly, we outline the current understanding of the future global demand and supply dynamics of forest products and the potential impact that increased substitution may have on these dynamics. Fifthly, we identify gaps in the global forest product value chain. Finally, it provides recommendations and conclusions, respectively.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.