Development strategies reflect major principles and goals and give direction and guidelines for reaching societal objectives. They should also provide road maps or a development trajectory reflecting consensus around major goals. Strategies need to be constructed with the global context in mind but should build strongly on the specific conditions found in the country or region in question, be they strengths or constraints that have to be addressed in the development process. Finally, strategies are translated into specific policies and projects, which reflect both broad and specific objectives of society. Simplifying, we could see strategies linked to long-term vision while policies are designed to shape processes towards that vision. Projects translate strategies and policies into action — it is the implementation phase (Silveira, 2004).

Often, changes in environmental quality are justified in terms of social and economic gains. Difficulties arise when we try to quantify losses and gains, and identify who the losers and winners are in each case. The quantification of resilience levels and how much environmental damage is acceptable given a certain level of return is subject to different methodologies and value scales. A project could have environmental impacts beyond what seems justifiable in terms of the social gains accrued. But if the impacts are global and perceived as abstract and the gains are immediate and quantifiable in terms of jobs and economic growth, how can various objectives be conciliated, who shall pay, who shall gain and at what point in time?

Bioenergy utilization and its impacts can be seen from both local and global perspectives in very diverse socioeconomic contexts. The traditional use of biomass, for example, can strongly characterize the way a household operates in a poor rural area. Collecting biomass takes a significant amount of time and the use of biomass serves to provide services such as cooking, lighting and heating. When new technologies are inserted in this context to provide more efficient and reliable energy services through energy carriers such as electricity, liquid or gaseous fluids, or processed solid fuels, we change life styles and the way households and communities operate. We create new functions and demands for energy services that were not there before, or we satisfy a potential demand in the cases where economic activities are being hampered by lack of proper energy provision. In the latter, energy provi­sion can open a new door that helps boost development.

When we think of bioenergy utilization in a context where modern energy services are already being provided, we are also talking about a technology transition that may affect life styles. Nevertheless, our primary initial focus is with the techno­economic transition per se and how we can put new technological solutions, and perhaps also services, into place with minimum disturbance in the quality of services provided. It is a matter of finding the right entrance for the new solution either by simply shifting smoothly towards a new solution or by adding a new service dimen­sion as a way to motivate the change.

Bioenergy does offer many new service dimensions that are appreciated by soci­ety. While the bioenergy solutions can be engineered into existing energy systems, a broader use of bioenergy requires that it is also visualized as an integrated part of the logistics of other production systems. And this is where the real complexity of the bioenergy systems lies at the moment. The existing knowledge base is enough to put markets into operation as the experiences of various countries such as Sweden,

Austria and Brazil indicate. Now is the time for gaining momentum. This can be accomplished by identifying ways of replicating successful experiences in new formats as exemplified here in Chapters 4, 7 and 8; improving the technologies or rethinking them as exemplified in Chapters 6 and 9; improving economic efficiency by linking bioenergy solutions more closely with other systems as discussed in Chapters 3, 5 and 10.

We need the strategic thinking of public and private policy makers to reframe the platforms on which bioenergy will flourish, that is, where specific projects can be visualized, engineered and realized. A lot can be done at different project scales when it comes to bioenergy. It actually allows for a revolution in face of the opportunities available for the integration of various production systems, traditional and modern. Basically, one can only think of oil prospection and exploration as a major enter­prise. In contrast, you can think of cogeneration and ethanol production in terms of the opportunities to link small — and medium-sized companies successively operating at regional, national or international levels. Within a context of well-developed energy systems, bioenergy provides a choice that can be fully integrated into existing infrastructure systems without major disturbances and, actually, with major gains.

In fact, many bioenergy technologies for power generation are advantageously used in small-scale units with further advantages in terms of location flexibility. This allows for a decentralization of the power production, which is well in line with the restructuring of electricity markets, the objectives of sustainable development and investment constraints for large-scale projects. In addition, energy infrastructure can be built step-wise allowing for a learning process even in remote areas.

Biomass resources are defined by land, water, light availability, and also labor, expertise and managerial capacity to organize a continuous and reliable production of biomass resources on a sustainable basis. The organization of biomass-based energy systems requires a number of institutional and technical arrangements, which, in turn, may need initial support and incentives from public organizations. Devel­oping countries enjoy favorable climatic conditions, which make them particularly apt for biomass production and utilization in power and heat generation, as well as liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Some of these countries have large availability of land and could become net exporters of energy while great benefits are accrued in terms of job creation and income generation. Many countries lack the infrastructure or the managerial capacity to implement large bioenergy systems, but the opportunity to start at smaller scales shall be attractive for many.

Agroforestry and intercropping for optimizing resource potential, combining food and energy production with ancillary benefits such as pulp production, con­struction materials, fertilizers and environmental protection are fully possible today. In the northeast of Brazil, cattle raising is being successfully combined with euca­lyptus plantations for pulp production, generating residues for many small industries such as ceramics and bakeries. The sustainable use of biomass crops and residues help alleviate pressure on natural forests and landscapes, while also generating new options to rural enterprises, with jobs and improved regional economy as a result.

The availability of biomass resources is important in determining a region’s aptitude for bioenergy. Even with the formation of solid and liquid biofuel markets, a local resource base may remain desirable, at least until biofuel markets have matured and reliability is perceived as satisfactory. But there are other reasons to strive for a local and regional resource base. In Europe, for example, it will provide an opportunity for a new type of rural development. In peripheral areas, such as in the far northern parts of Europe, it offers a concrete contribution for the survival of local communities. This distributional dimension of bioenergy is strategically important, the challenge being to create mechanisms for balancing price competi­tion in open international markets, on the one hand, with regional development objectives, on the other hand.

Organizing bioenergy production requires significant logistical solutions including transport systems and a variety of biomass producers, which need policy support to be operational and be able to compete with other energy forms in an initial phase. Technical aspects of logistics and generation may be straight forward in the sense that there are tested technologies and solutions which have been continuously improved, and can be readily applied. Yet local knowledge and adaptation is often needed to get projects off the ground on a sustainable basis, building a system of significant size that can bring energy services and other benefits to society, while also providing a good business base for the actors involved.

Strong focus on projects rather than systems may lead to suboptimization. Therefore, it is good if bioenergy projects can be pulled together by platforms of action. Table 17.1 illustrates the direction that some platforms of action are heading where bioenergy has a role to play. These platforms can be used to promote bio­energy projects in a context that is broader than the project itself thus enhancing its value even beyond the provision of energy services.

The need for policy coordination among different sectors of the economy delays the introduction of bioenergy even in countries where the potential is very high. Thus innovative projects, supported by incentives and capacity building are needed to boost up the knowledge and interest for bioenergy. The tasks will have to be divided and systematically implemented in order to make it possible and manageable for even very poor countries to accrue the benefits of this knowledge base and, hope­fully, also of expanding biofuel markets.

Government organizations need to work closely with private actors in defining demonstration projects and specific incentives to foster the formation of markets. This includes allocating investments for projects that are financially risky but which have an important role in market demonstration. In addition, governmental agencies

can assess information and make it equally available to the various actors in the market or organize procurement to push for increased efficiency and innovation. In the long run, the support for research provided by the government will be essential to guarantee a continuous development of technologies.