Bioenergy and agricultural land use: examining the framing of the ethical debate

TY - GEN

T1 - Bioenergy and agricultural land use

T2 - Global food security: ethical and legal challenges. EurSafe 2010

AU - Gamborg, Christian

AU - Millar, K.

AU - Sandøe, Peter

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - Bioenergy research and technology development is attracting increasing attention, with bioenergy being promoted as an essential component of sustainable energy strategies. The increasing global production of first generation bioenergy and significant investment in research has resulted in notable public scrutiny and debate. As a result a number of ethical issues have been identified, including the impact of increased bioenergy production and use on food prices, regional development, poverty alleviation policies, fair trade, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emission and notably, on land use. A prominent and recurrent dimension of the ethical debate focuses on the impact of producing bioenergy from viable agricultural land (i.e. land that is suitable for food production). In particular, concerns are raised as to whether it is 'unfair' to use land for bioenergy at a time of food insecurity and significant food poverty. Moreover, as the amount of land used for bioenergy production steadily increases, the ethical issue of land displacement becomes more prominent; which in a broader context involves questions about what constitutes sustainable land use. Focusing on the land use issue, this paper will examine the nature of the arguments that assert: (1) it is ethically unacceptable to use agricultural land for bioenergy (particularly liquid biofuel production) at a time of significant global hunger and food insecurity; and (2) second generation biofuels are more acceptable than first generation. It will be argued that at least when applying a consequentialist ethical approach, it may be difficult to uphold an ethical distinction between first and second generation biofuels.

AB - Bioenergy research and technology development is attracting increasing attention, with bioenergy being promoted as an essential component of sustainable energy strategies. The increasing global production of first generation bioenergy and significant investment in research has resulted in notable public scrutiny and debate. As a result a number of ethical issues have been identified, including the impact of increased bioenergy production and use on food prices, regional development, poverty alleviation policies, fair trade, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emission and notably, on land use. A prominent and recurrent dimension of the ethical debate focuses on the impact of producing bioenergy from viable agricultural land (i.e. land that is suitable for food production). In particular, concerns are raised as to whether it is 'unfair' to use land for bioenergy at a time of food insecurity and significant food poverty. Moreover, as the amount of land used for bioenergy production steadily increases, the ethical issue of land displacement becomes more prominent; which in a broader context involves questions about what constitutes sustainable land use. Focusing on the land use issue, this paper will examine the nature of the arguments that assert: (1) it is ethically unacceptable to use agricultural land for bioenergy (particularly liquid biofuel production) at a time of significant global hunger and food insecurity; and (2) second generation biofuels are more acceptable than first generation. It will be argued that at least when applying a consequentialist ethical approach, it may be difficult to uphold an ethical distinction between first and second generation biofuels.

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 978-90-8686-154-5

SP - 295

EP - 300

BT - Global food security

A2 - Romeo Casabona, Carlos M.

A2 - Escajedo San Epifanio, Leire

A2 - Emaldi Cirión, Aitziber

PB - Wageningen Academic Publishers

Y2 - 16 September 2010 through 18 September 2010

ER -