<ANNOUNCEMENT>
Regional Forum on Bioenergy Sector Development: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Way Forward
(23-25 January 2008, Bangkok, Thailand)

Aide Memoir
Tentative Programme
Tentative List of Participants

A Regional Forum on Bioenergy Sector Development: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Way Forward will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 23–25 January 2008.

Agriculture and rural development strategies are a critical component of an inclusive growth strategy for Asia and the Pacific region. In particular, the production and use of bioenergy in its modern forms can have a major and positive impact on agricultural development and the environment. If bioenergy becomes a major source of energy, it could have a profound influence in many rural areas of developing countries. It could possibly speed up socio-economic development, and a large number of farmers could increase food production and their own energy in a sustainable manner.

The world biofuel production is on a sharp rise since 2000; biomass currently supplies about a third of energy in developing countries. It is now increasingly realized that there is considerable potential for the modernization of biomass fuels to produce convenient energy carrier, such as electricity, gas, and transportation fuels, while continuing to provide for traditional uses of biomass. The potential socio-economic benefits of modern biomass energy arise from the fact that agriculture could face enormous demand for feedstock. This feedstock will need to be produced, harvested, transported, converted into biofuels, and distributed for final utilization. The modernization of biomass and the necessary industrial investment are already happening in many countries. Since the biomass-based energy is a labour-intensive sector, particularly favourable for rural development, agro-energy employment could be a large source of employment in the future. It is important, however, to note that the future use of bioenergy must be strongly linked to high energy efficiency, environmentally-sustainable production and use.

Policy-makers must assess the impact of producing biofuels on food security due to potential change in land use and switch in plantation of agricultural crops; that is, economic and environmental tradeoffs in terms of food/feed/fuel production and security should be carefully assessed. Furthermore, the processing and conversion technology dimension of biofuel development and production is another important aspect to be considered by the policy-makers at the country level. Future bioenergy technologies may rely on dedicated energy crops and agricultural and timber wastes instead of food crops. Second generation technologies of bioenergy production and processing could potentially make a higher contribution to energy security and climate change mitigation.

As countries move to strengthen their energy security by increasing their use of biofuels, they should also work to ensure poor people’s and small farmers’ participation in the creation of a more sustainable energy system. With sound technology and trade polices, win-win solutions are possible with bioenergy in developing countries and positive outcomes for the poor as well as for energy efficiency.

Innovative economic instruments such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the carbon market trading should be more utilized in order to leverage additional private and public funding for bioenergy production in developing countries under the Kyoto Protocol, and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change. In addition, supportive measures for the establishment of a CDM infrastructure and the creation of CDM-friendly regulatory and business environments are required to leverage carbon finance and payments for ecosystem services and sustainable agriculture development.

The Forum aims to address comprehensive issues in bioenergy development, including the current status in Asia and the Pacific; possibilities for developing bioenergy source while ensuring a balance between its potential benefits and risks associated with environmental sustainability and food security; review of current bioenergy processing/conversion technologies for biofuels, biogas and biomass, and the next generation technologies; CDM project financing and investment in green business opportunities; and recommendations on viable policy, strategy, framework, and the way forward for the bioenergy sector development in the region.

Policy-makers in charge of agro-industry and bioenergy from the Asian and Pacific countries, experts from UNESCAP, United Nations agencies (FAO, UNIDO, ADB and UNDP), and bilateral development organizations (SNV), national institutions, and selected representatives from the private sector will participate in this Forum.

The tentative topics of this Forum include: i) Biofuels Development in Asia and the Pacific; ii) Biogas and Biomass Development in Asia and the Pacific; iii) Next Generation Technology of Bioenergy; and iv) Climate Change and Green Business Opportunities.

The Forum is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Royal Government of Thailand.

Based in Beijing, UN-APCAEM is a regional institution/subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok. For more information about the Centre, please visit http://www.unapcaem.org .

For more information about the Forum, please contact:
Joong-Wan CHO
Head/Senior Economic Affairs Officer
United Nations Asian and Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery (APCAEM)
Email: chojw@unapcaem.org or info@unapcaem.org