Policy paper

The bioeconomy controversy

Considering the bioeconomy from a development policy perspective

As it stands, bioeconomy concepts rarely feature in public debate. Yet the relevant stakeholders are investing a lot of energy in developing their bioeconomy strategies and, at least as a research strategy, the bioeconomy is in full swing. Great hopes evidently rest on the bioeconomy and the concept is beginning to influence key policy fields.

Both in the Global South and North, bioeconomy strategies have become the target of critical interventions by environmental groups and social movements. In the discussions and analyses of German development policy groups, however, the term bioeconomy has surfaced only very recently. A critical debate and careful analysis of the recent wave of bioeconomy strategies that have developed against the backdrop of the climate crisis and, within this context, the increasing popularity of the notion of a ‘green economy’, is still in its very early stages. While the bioconomy is clearly an important yet problematic strategy that is being promoted by actors in the fields of business and politics, our options to counter this offensive remain unclear.

In light of these developments, this position paper produced by the Centre for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America (Forschungs- und Dokumentationszentrum Chile-Lateinamerika e.V., FDCL) provides a basic analysis of the problem and perspectives for
political intervention from a development policy standpoint and, in so doing, hopes
to stimulate a more profound debate concerning the bioeconomy as a field of action.

Impressum

Published by:
Centre for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America
(Forschungs- und Dokumentationszentrum Chile-Lateinamerika e.V., FDCL)
Gneisenaustraße 2a, D -10961 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +49 30 693 40 29 / Fax: +49 30 692 65 90
Email: info@fdcl.org / Website: http://www.fdcl.org

FDCL Verlag, Berlin, January 2018

Author:
Thomas Fatheuer

Revised edition of the FDCL working paper:
Biomasse für die Green Economy (November 2015)

Foto: Bereiche der BioÖkonomie / Flickr 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Herausgeber

Förderer