Bioeconomy – The global trend and its implications for sustainability and food security

Abstract

There is a global trend into Bioeconomy: About 50 countries have newly adopted bioeconomy-related policy strategies in the past decade. A 2nd Global Bioeconomy Summit held in Berlin from April 12–14, 2018, highlighted that this trend toward bioeconomy is mainly driven by the need to address resource constraints related to climate, water, energy, and land, and by the recent advances in microbiology, and by shifts in consumer preferences. New opportunities are arising for industries and agriculture in a bioeconomy, but strategies also need to address conflicting goals with science and policy to generate accelerated innovations for food security, and resource protection policies that enhance a sustainable utilization of land, water, and biodiversity.