2013
The Policy Recommendations on Biofuels and Food Security were developed in response to concerns that growing biofuel production can compete with food crops for land, water, and resources, potentially harming food security and nutrition. The rationale is that biofuel policies must be assessed carefully because they can bring both opportunities and risks – economic, social, and environmental – depending on how and where they are implemented.
The Policy Recommendations – endorsed at the CFS 40 in 2013 – call on governments to ensure that biofuel development does not compromise food security and nutrition, especially for vulnerable groups such as women and smallholders. They urge countries to review national biofuel policies using science-based assessments of their impact on food availability, access, nutrition, and stability. They also encourage strengthening national capacity to analyze these impacts, considering land rights and local contexts, so that biofuels are produced only where socially, economically, and environmentally appropriate.
