Future Bioenergy And Sustainable Land Use

At head of title: German Advisory Council on Global Change.

Because of the major opportunities and risks associated with it, and the complexity of the subject, bioenergy policy has in a short time become a challenging political task for regulators and planners – a task that can only be accomplished through worldwide cooperation and the creation of an international framework. This book's central message is that the sustainable potential of bioenergy, which can be tapped all over the world, should be utilized – provided that threats to sustainability are avoided. In particular, the use of bioenergy must not endanger food security or the goals of nature conservation and climate change mitigation.

This book focuses primarily on the advantages and implications of sustainable bioenergy production in terms of ensuring a more sustainable world despite its growing energy demands. It addresses a new concept that focuses on the interactions between different uses of agricultural land (for example, agriculture for food, forage or energy and nature conservation) and their ecological, economic and societal impacts. This research concept provides new insights into the competition for resources and the synergies between different land uses. This book seeks to improve people’s understanding of bioenergy’s potentials for the future. It will be of interest not only to those involved in sustainable energy, but also to environmental planners, agriculture and soil specialists, and environmental policy-makers.

The North American Great Plains is a major global breadbasket but its agriculture is stressed by drought, heat, damaging winds, soil erosion and declining ground water resources. Biomass production and processing on the Plains would partially restore a perennial vegetative cover and create employment opportunities. This book explores the possibility that the ecology and economy of the Plains region, and similar regions, would benefit from the introduction of perennial biomass crops.

This book provides an overview of current and future bioenergy developments, describes the impacts related to poverty and the environment, assesses the opportunities and challenges and outlines how future World Bank activities related to bioenergy may be linked to poverty alleviation and environmental protection.

Although bioenergy is a renewable energy source, it is not without impact on the environment. Both the cultivation of crops specifically for use as biofuels and the use of agricultural byproducts to generate energy changes the landscape, affects ecosystems, and impacts the climate. Bioenergy and Land Use Change focuses on regional and global assessments of land use change related to bioenergy and the environmental impacts. This interdisciplinary volume provides both high level reviews and in-depth analyses on specific topics. Volume highlights include: Land use change concepts, economics, and modeling Relationships between bioenergy and land use change Impacts on soil carbon, soil health, water quality, and the hydrologic cycle Impacts on natural capital and ecosystem services Effects of bioenergy on direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions Biogeochemical and biogeophysical climate regulation Uncertainties and challenges associated with land use change quantification and environmental impact assessments Bioenergy and Land Use Change is a valuable resource for professionals, researchers, and graduate students from a wide variety of fields including energy, economics, ecology, geography, agricultural science, geoscience, and environmental science. Read an interview with the editors to find out more: https://eos.org/editors-vox/bioenergys-impacts-on-the-landscape

This edited volume establishes a forum for international experts to explore cutting-edge questions associated with the land use and biomass production. Topics include ‘do we have enough land, either primary or marginal, to accommodate future production of biomass?’, ‘how are farming decisions made in response to biomass incentives?’, ‘is the current bio-mass production socially, economically and environmentally sustainable?’, and ‘what are the main constraints currently limiting biofuel deployment?’ The expansion of biomass production is often at the cost of reduced land availability for food production and losses of areas with ecological functions such as forests and wetlands. This process often involves complex interplay of physical dynamics and human systems that are driven by numerous geographic and socio-economic factors at different scales. Thus, the state-of-the-art research on the land use issues surrounding the biomass production and its environmental impacts is important for informed land management decision making. This book will be of great use to researchers in land use management and biomass-based renewable energy, as well as practitioners.