Two thirds of fertile land is already in use for production of biotic resources (biomass) such as food, fibres and (bio)fuels. As a consequence, global biodiversity has decreased. In the decades ahead, population growth, increasing wealth and demand for meat will put additional claims for biomass and for conversion of even more natural land. The implementation of sustainability criteria could help to alleviate these risks. Such criteria were already included in the renewable energy directive. In this section the necessity and feasibility of applying sustainability criteria for all biotic materials will be discussed by members of the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management and its Steering Committee.

In partnership with UNEP