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Initiative

SEI Initiative on Governing Bioeconomy Pathways

A modern bioeconomy – producing materials, foods and feeds, fuels and more from biological resources with the help of science and technology – is a vital element of poverty reduction and global sustainable development transitions.

Active project

2018–2022

Overview

A modern bioeconomy can offer resource efficiency, climate-smart and sustainable production systems for food, feed, fuels and value-added agro-industrial products, and hence a healthier and more prosperous future.

However, despite a wide agreement on the future significance of the bioeconomy, there is less on the pathways that should be followed. This is mainly due to the wide range of biophysical and socio-economic circumstances in which bioeconomies are developing, and to uncertainty about the potential impacts of bioeconomy development over time.

Resolving these issues often requires social and political engagement rather than the techno-economic approaches that currently dominate, a gap that the initiative will try to address.

The SEI Initiative on Governing Bioeconomy Pathways aims to better articulate the alternative pathways available for bioeconomy development, and to identify the policies, institutions and governance mechanisms that can facilitate each of them.

Some key questions the initiative will explore are:

  1. How is the bioeconomy important for sustainable development,  and what are the key challenges and opportunities in a development context?
  2. How is value created and realised in the bioeconomy across different physical landscapes, development levels and market sectors?
  3. What are the key impacts of the bioeconomy and how can these impacts be measured and evaluated in the context of sustainable development and poverty alleviation?
  4. Where in the geopolitical space can cohesive bioeconomy strategies be developed and what scenarios or pathways are feasible and/or desirable at different levels?
  5. Who are the key stakeholders and decision-makers in the bioeconomy, and what types of dialogue and other interaction could support improved governance?

The initiative team develops and applies conceptual frameworks related to bioeconomy visions and pathways together with stakeholders and supports the framing and drafting of bioeconomy strategies. Empirical case studies and policy engagement are conducted at local, national, regional and global levels. National-level efforts thus far have been focused in Colombia, Rwanda and Thailand, while at the regional level, a special focus has been in Eastern Africa.

Highlights and updates

Policy Dialogues on bioeconomy for sustainable development

SEI is conducting a series of dialogues to clarify the barriers and enablers for a more inclusive bioeconomy for various potential pathways of implementation, across different levels of governance and geographies. The dialogues have a national and regional basis but also respond to local concerns and global markets by gathering a diverse group of stakeholders.

The diversity of potential pathways towards a sustainable bioeconomy has divided the relevant stakeholder dialogues into an increasingly contentious set of debates. Due to the polarised positions, compromises that are reached tend to lead to re-affirmation of the status quo at precisely the time when new directions are needed for the bioeconomy and sustainability transitions in general. At the same time, each of the new alternatives has to be highly contextualized across different countries and regions, reflecting and tailoring to the vast differences in levels of development, infrastructure, institutional maturity and human resource capacity.

The aim is to facilitate a more cohesive and constructive stakeholder dialogue, empowering key actors and organisations to institutionalize strategic thinking on bioeconomy into their operations.

The Policy Dialogues are co-financed by the Swedish Innovation Authority (Vinnova) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The project is developed and implemented independently by SEI in collaboration with Gothenburg Center for Sustainable development (GMV) and RISE.

Explore the policy dialogues

This project is co-lead by:

Francis X. Johnson
Francis X. Johnson

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Asia

Mónica Trujillo

Research Fellow

SEI Latin America

Events

Publications

Team

Francis X. Johnson
Francis X. Johnson

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Asia

Ivar Virgin
Ivar Virgin

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters

Profile picture of Takeshi Takama
Takeshi Takama

SEI Affiliated Researcher

SEI Asia

Profile picture of Rob Bailis
Rob Bailis

Senior Scientist

SEI US

Mbeo Ogeya
Mbeo Ogeya

Research Fellow

SEI Africa

Nella Canales
Nella Canales

Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters

Mónica Trujillo

Research Fellow

SEI Latin America

David Purkey

Centre Director

SEI Latin America

Lawrence Nzuve

Communications Coordinator

Communications

SEI Africa

Rajesh Daniel

Head of Communications, SEI Asia

Communications

SEI Asia

Stefan Bößner
Stefan Bößner

Research Fellow

SEI Asia

Natalia Ortiz

Communications Officer

Communications

SEI Latin America

Ng’endo Machua-Muniu
Ng’endo Machua-Muniu

Engagement and Impact Officer

Communications

SEI Africa

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