In its newly-published sustainable energy report, the United Nations has warned that the global move towards bioenergy could result in environmental and social damage which outweighs the benefits of the new renewable fuel option.
<p>Nevertheless, despite reporting the possible setbacks of bioenergy, Alexander Muller, assistant director general of the sustainable development department of the food and agricultural organization, conceded that bioenergy could help to meet the needs of 1.6 billion people who lack access to electricity and 2.4 billion people who rely on the use of traditional biomass.<br /><br />Mr Muller commented that, in particular, biofuels could help to offset recently escalating oil prices. However, Mr Muller added that, while the biofuels market is developing into a global multi-billion dollar agricultural products business that could benefit the world's rural poor, a political framework is needed to ensure that this actually happens. <br /><br />Although the UN's sustainable energy report outlines a number of benefits, it also highlights concerns about key sustainability issues facing bioenergy development, including the implications for food security, trade, foreign exchange balances and energy security, and climate change. <br /><br />In particular, the UN voiced its concern that the availability of adequate food supplies could be threatened by biofuel production, to the extent that land, water and other productive resources are diverted away from food production. Nevertheless, the body added that demand for biofuels could add value to rural farmers' products.<br /><br />While the report failed to reach a final conclusion on the issue of biofuels, its core message revealed that, while bioenergy has the potential to reduce poverty, the opposite result could be caused if the situation is handled badly. <br /><br />Mr Muller concluded that any global bioenergy strategy must ensure that poor people do not end up paying for the fact that the industrialized world needs more bioenergy.</p>