A Compilation of Tools and Methodologies to Assess the Sustainability of Modern Bioenergy

The FAO's Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) project has compiled a set of thirty relevant tools and methodologies that can be used to inform the development of a sustainable bioenergy sector and of sustainable operations, and to assess, both ex-ante and ex-post, the main environmental and socio-economic impacts arising from individual operations or from the bioenergy sector as a whole.

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 income-generating 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 on the productive capacity of land or on water availability and quality, with negative repercussions on food security.

Both the nature and magnitude of the impacts of modern bioenergy development on food security will depend on a number of factors, related mainly to the type of feedstock and bioenergy technology considered, the way production is managed, and the environmental, socio-economic and policy context in which such development takes place.