This document presents a conceptual framework for assessing the impacts of biofuel production on ecosystem services and human wellbeing. It introduces the ecosystem services concept and classification system from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The framework analyzes how biofuel production can affect provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services. It also examines the impacts on dimensions of human wellbeing, such as rural development, energy access, food security, health, and social issues. The framework aims to make the trade-offs between ecosystem services and human wellbeing explicit in order to consistently evaluate different biofuel production systems.

1. Per Stromberg1, Alexandros Gasparatos2
1Visiting Fellow, United Nations University –
Institute of Advanced Studies
2Research Fellow, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford
University
Workshop South at the Steering Wheel
May 29th 2012
1Per Stromberg also works at the Policy Analysis Unit,
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Applying the Ecosystem
Services Approach to Biofuels

2. Aim of the presentation
• Highlight a conceptual framework that can be
used as a first step to identify the trade-offs
and the direct/indirect effects of biofuel
production on ecosystem services and human
wellbeing.
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3. Biofuel impacts
Positive impacts
• net energy suppliers (e.g. Hill et al., 2006) and increase energy security (e.g. EU, 2008)
• environment and climate (e.g. Zah et al., 2008)
• might not affect food security (e.g. Zhou and Thomson, 2009)
• economically/socially beneficial (e.g. Arndt et al., 2009; FAO, 2009)
Negative impacts
• net energy consumers (e.g. Pimentel and Patzek, 2005) or provide lower energy gain
when compared to other biomass-based renewables (Campbell et al., 2009)
• environment (e.g. SCOPE, 2009)
• climate (e.g. Fargione et al., 2008)
• biodiversity (e.g. Fitzherbert et al., 2008)
• food security and food prices (Runge and Senauer, 2008; Mitchell, 2008; IIASA, 2009)
• social exclusion of the poor (e.g. IIED, 2008)
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4. Need for a framework for assessing
biofuel sustainability
“…tradeoffs…need to be explicitly considered by using a framework that
allows the outcomes of alternative systems to be consistently evaluated
and compared”
Robertson et al., 2008. Science, 322, 49-50.
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5. Our proposal
The ecosystem services concept and the
associated conceptual framework can form
the basis of an assessment framework for
evaluating biofuel production practices
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6. Background – ecosystem services
Various definitions
“…the benefits people obtain from ecosystems” (MA, 2005: 27)
“…components of nature, directly enjoyed, consumed, or used to yield human
wellbeing” (Boyd and Banzhaf, 2007: 619)
“…the aspects of ecosystems utilized (actively or passively) to produce human
wellbeing” (Fisher et al., 2009: 645)
Various classifications
• Pre-MA*: (Daily, 1997; Costanza et al., 1997; de Groot et al., 2002)
• MA*: (MEA, 2005)
• Post-MA*: (Boyd and Banzhaf, 2007; Wallace, 2007; Fisher et al., 2009)
* MA – Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
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7. MA classification
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8. Why ecosystem services?
Biofuels provide ecosystem services (e.g. fuel, climate
mitigation) and can compromise others ecosystem
services (e.g. food, freshwater services). However, this
knowledge is fragmented and there is yet no full
understanding about their effect on human wellbeing.
– Helps to make explicit links between ecosystem functioning
and human wellbeing
– Focuses on trade-offs
– Already high buying in by stakeholders
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9. 1.Provisioning services
1.Fuel
(+) Bio ethanol, biodiesel, straight vegetable oil
(+) Generally speaking net-energy producers, e.g. (Menichetti and Otto, 2009; de Vries et al.,
2010; Panichelli,et al., 2009)
2.Food
(-) May compete with food directly (e.g. Fisher et al., 2009) and indirectly (e.g. for labour) (Sano
et al., forthcoming)
3.Fresh water
(+) Wastewater can be used for the cultivation of bioenergy crops (e.g. Borjensson and
Berndes, 2006) and biofuel crops can possibly be used to restore contaminated aquifers
(Gopalakrishnan et al. 2009)
(-) Possible overexploitation and degradation (through pollution), and high water footprint
(Gerben-Leenes et al., 2009a; 2009b)
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10. 2.Regulating services
1.Climate change mitigation
(+) Several LCAs have shown that biofuels can emit less GHG during their whole life cycle
(Hess et al., 2009; Delucchi, 2006).
(-) However, if Land Use Change (LUC) related GHG emissions are properly accounted for
then biofuels can be significant net GHG emitters (Fargione et al., 2008; Danielsen et al.,
2008; Gibbs et al., 2008)
2.Ambient air quality
(+)/(-) Biofuel production can impact the atmospheric environment at various stages of the
life cycle, positively (compared to fossil fuels) and negatively (particles from fires from
land clearing).
3.Erosion control
(+) Feedstocks that can be grown on marginal land such as Jatropha can improve soil quality
and control erosion (Acten et al., 2008; Gmunder et al., 2010).
(-) Feedstock production can can be a driver of soil erosion, e.g. in Brazil and Argentina
(Martinelli and Filoso, 2008; Van Dam et al., 2009)
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11. 3.Cultural services
• Lack of biofuel specific literature
• However monocultures, deforestation, occupation of marginal land and invasive
species have been identified as potentially having a negative impact on cultural
ecosystem services (MA, 2005)
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12. MA classification
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13. Impact on human wellbeing
Biofuel production can impact human wellbeing
through
1. Rural development
2. Access to energy/energy security
3. Access to food/food security
4. Health
5. Conflict/Land tenure
6. Gender issues
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14. Human wellbeing impact:
Rural development
Income and employment opportunities
Labour intensity of different feedstock
Huge role of the choice of production system (e.g.
outcropping/decentralised small production units vs. large scale
plantations (Arndt et al., 2009a; 2009b)
Information gaps in some biofuel practices can cause market risk
particularly for small holders
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15. Human wellbeing impact:
Energy security and access to energy
National: Bioethanol from sugarcane constitutes a significant fraction
of all the transport fuel consumed in Brazil
Local: the energy self-sufficient villages (ESSV) program in Indonesia
(1000 villages to meet their own energy demand from locally
available renewable resources by 2010) (Kusdiana and Saptono,
2008, FAO, 2008; Energia, 2009)
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16. Human wellbeing impact:
Food security and access to food
Increased biofuel demand/production has been
identified as one of the interconnected reasons
behind the sharp increase of food prices since 2002
(Mitchell, 2008; RFA, 2008)
Effects on human wellbeing varies between net
producers and net consumers, urban and rural, etc.
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17. Human wellbeing impact:
Health
Cases of deployment of agrochemicals exposing
workers to risks.
Conflict/land tenure
Cases of land grabbing/ land conflict (e.g. Cotula 2009).
Gender issues
The effects of biofuel production on human wellbeing
might not be proportionate between genders (Rossi
and Labrou 2008, Energia 2009).
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Source: Gasparatos, A., Stromberg, P. (2011) Biofuels, ecosystem services and human wellbeing. Agriculture, Ecosystems and
Environment.

19. 19

20. Thank you for your attention
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21. • Stromberg, P., Esteban, M., Gasparatos, A. (under review at Environmental Science and
Policy) Climate change effects on mitigation measures: the case of extreme wind events and
Philippines´biofuel plan.
• Gasparatos, A., Stromberg, P. (2011) Biofuels, ecosystem services and human wellbeing.
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.
• Gasparatos, A., Stromberg, P. (Eds.) (forthcoming) Socio economic and environmental
impacts of biofuels: evidence from developing nations. Cambridge University Press.
• Stromberg, P. Gasparatos, A. (forthcoming) Biofuel production and its trade-offs: a
developing country perspective. In Gasparatos, A., Stromberg, P. (Eds.) Socioeconomic and
environmental impacts of biofuels: evidence from developing nations.
• Gasparatos, A., Stromberg, P. (forthcoming) Conclusions: the sustainability of biofuel in
developing countries. In Gasparatos, A., Stromberg, P. (Eds.) Socioeconomic and
environmental impacts of biofuels: evidence from developing nations.
• Stromberg, P. (forthcoming) Ecosystem services impact of biofuels – rural development,
current and future deforestation. United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies,
Working Paper Series, Yokohama.
List of publications
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22. • Penaranda, R., Gasparatos, A., Puppim de Oliveira, J., Suwa, A., Stromberg, P. (2011)
Local impacts on ecosystem services: the case of oil palm production in Indonesia. In
Takeuchi, K. et al. (Eds.) UNU Press. Tokyo.
• Stromberg, P., Gasparatos, A., Lee, J.S.H., Garcia-Ulloa, J., Koh, L.P., Takeuchi, K., (2010)
Impact of liquid biofuels on ecosystem services and biodiversity. UNU-IAS Policy
Report. United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies, ISBN 978-92-808-
4518-1, Yokohama.
• Stromberg, P., Esteban, M., Thompson-Pomeroy, D. (2009) Interlinkages in climate
change-vulnerability of a mitigation strategy: Implications of increased typhoon
intensity on biofuel production. UNU-IAS Policy Report. United Nations University-
Institute of Advanced Studies, Yokohama.
Conference papers and special sessions:
• Intl. Assoc. Energy Economics, Intl. Soc. Ecol. Ecs., etc.
Under elaboration
• Gasparatos, A., Stromberg, P. Costanza, R., Ghazoul, Takeuchi, K. (to be submitted to
Science) Biofuel and ecosystem services.
• Stromberg, P., Olaniyan, K., Gasparatos, A. Biofuels directive and tropical deforestation:
econometric evidence from Indonesia.
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23. Conclusions• Biofuel production (during its whole life cycle) affects ecosystem services and human wellbeing.
– Can provide and enhance ecosystem services thus contributing positively to human
wellbeing.
• The source of the challenge of biofuel sustainability is an inadequate understanding of the biofuel
production chain, explicitly, the fallacy to acknowledge the many routes nature takes in creating
human wellbeing (e.g. fuel). In contrast, taking ecosystem services as the unit of analysis the
multifunctional role of nature becomes evident for the planner as do the effects on human
wellbeing of using environment for different welfare enhancing objectives. By taking ecosystem
services as the unit of analysis sustainability analysis will help to address both temporal and spatial
scales, including the causality between current consumption choices for energy and their future
implications in often faraway production sites.
• Biofuel sustainability depends greatly on the context (feedstock, socio-economic context etc.) of
feedstock/biofuel production and trade. As a result the widely adopted tendency of grouping
biofuels under the same banner when discussing their potential seems unjustified.
• “Biofuels” include vastly different production practices that take place in different ecosystems, for
different reasons and compete with other human activities. As a result in our opinion it is
important to clarify the associated trade-offs which are context specific when attempting to tackle
biofuel related dilemmas. 23
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