The recent US presidential race and the re-election of Barack
Obama to a second term brought a sigh of relief for many in the United States and around the world, especially after Mitt Romney’s disturbing jokes on Obama’s plans
to “slow the rise of the oceans” and “heal the planet” that took place at the GOP Convention before Hurricane
Sandy wreaked devastation in New York City. With Obama's return to the White House, activists are continuing to put pressure on him to openly address issues on climate change, clean
energy, and other environmental concerns.
Meanwhile, I have been noticing the development of another hot topic,
which is the bioeconomy. Back in April, the US published its National BioEconomy Blueprint which
according to the White House, has two main purposes – “to lay out
strategic objectives that will help realize the full potential of the U.S.
bioeconomy and to highlight early achievements toward those objectives”.
In Brussels, the European Commission proposed its
Bioeconomy Strategy – Innovating for
Sustainable Growth: a Bioeconomy for Europe, which emphasizes the need for Europe
to transition to a post-petroleum society. Its aim is to “pave the way to a more innovative, resource efficient and competitive
society that reconciles food security with the sustainable use of renewable
resources for industrial purposes, while ensuring environmental protection”.
In China, the country has placed bioeconomy as one of
its key development priorities and in its 12th Five-Year Plan, biotechnology has
been included as one of China’s seven strategic emerging industries.
And in Malaysia, we have what’s called the Bioeconomy
Initiative Malaysia (BIM), which is expected to produce new ideas and methods
of utilizing renewable energy under the support of the National Biotech Policy.
It seems that the world is all abuzz over this
emerging engine of growth and countries are racing to become the global leader
in biotechnology.
So what is the bioeconomy and why is it given so much attention these days?
According to the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development’s (UNCSD) Rio +20 event on Bio-economy and Development,
“the functioning of today’s economic
system essentially depends on non-renewable resources, and cannot be therefore
sustained forever, it cannot be eternal…”
There is a steady realization that the conventional model
of unlimited growth cannot be sustainable because it does not take into account
that the energy and natural resources we are currently dependent on are finite.
Continuing to intensely exploit these resources could lead to what is described
as “an alteration of the biological
balances, up to ecologic and economic rejection".
In this regard, the bioeconomy presents an
alternative solution that could harness innovation, contribute to economic
growth and most importantly produce beneficial outcomes for society and the
environment.
Also referred to as the “green economy” or
“biotechonomy”, the bioeconomy has been defined and described in several different
ways. The OECD stated:
“From a broad
economic perspective, the bioeconomy refers to the set of economic activities
relating to the invention, development, production and use of biological
products and processes”.
In the US, the emphasis on the bioeconomy is on “harnessing biological research innovations
to meet national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment”,
whereas in the EU a bioeconomy “encompasses
the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these
resources and waste streams into value added products, such as food, feed, bio-based
products and bioenergy”.
The UNCSD explains that “Bio-economy is an environmental and economic theory and practice by
which you can proceed towards a new ecological and social development.” Thus,
it is understood that the basic concept of the bioeconomy is to turn biomass into
marketable goods and services such as biofuels, bioplastics, bioenergy, and so
on.
According to
Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal, CEO of the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp), the
biotechnology industry contributes roughly 2.2% towards Malaysia’s GDP and
about $5.4bn in investments for private and public spending. The Chairman of BiotechCorp, Dato’ Dr Zakri Abdul Hamid, explained “instead of an economy
dependent on the planet's limited supply of non-renewable resources such as
petroleum and coal, we could convert plant material, municipal and livestock
waste and biomass into electricity, fuels, plastics and the basic components of
chemical processes”.
However, there are also concerns that have been
raised in the global debate. It has been argued that biomass will presumably be
produced using the techniques of industrial agriculture, which may not
necessarily be biofriendly, and would cause the destruction of biodiversity,
erosion, pollution, deforestation, land-grabbing, and increased GHG emissions.
Skepticism were expressed by the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and
Concentration (ETC), in The New Biomassters - Synthetic Biology and The Next Assault on Biodiversity and Livelihoods, as it argues that “what’s behind the dash to biomass is not high ideals but the
calculated interest of the corporate bottom line. Far from changing to a new
economy, the biomass transition describes the retooling of the same old economy
of production, consumption, capital accumulation, and exploitation – only now a
new source of carbon is being plundered to keep the industrial machines going".
The International Food Policy Research Institute (in their paper on Water and Food in the Bio-economy: Challenges and Opportunities for Development) also stated concerns with regard to the impact of the bioeconomy on water and land resources in relation to biofuel production, reporting that "the water
requirement for energy derived from biomass is quite large—about 70 to 400 times greater than
other energy carriers such as fossil fuels, wind and solar (Gerben-Leenes et al. 2008 as quoted in
DeFraiture and Berndes 2009)".
Hence, while it appears that the bioeconomy could contribute to major socio-economic developments, such
as improving health outcomes, boosting the productivity of agriculture and
industrial processes, and enhancing environmental sustainability, harnessing
its potential will require coordinated policy action by governments, collaborative business models for knowledge-sharing, strategic investments in research, active citizen participation, and effective dialogue between all actors involved in the transition. Without proper regulation and implementation, the bioeconomy could bring future risks and further exacerbate social and environmental problems.
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