title: Bioenergy and Biodiversity: Key Lessons from the Pan American Region.
abstract: Understanding how large-scale bioenergy production can affect biodiversity and ecosystems is important if society is to meet current and future sustainable development goals. A variety of bioenergy production systems have been established within different contexts throughout the Pan American region, with wide-ranging results in terms of documented and projected effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. The Pan American region is home to the majority of commercial bioenergy production and therefore the region offers a broad set of experiences and insights on both conflicts and opportunities for biodiversity and bioenergy. This paper synthesizes lessons learned focusing on experiences in Canada, the United States, and Brazil regarding the conflicts that can arise between bioenergy production and ecological conservation, and benefits that can be derived when bioenergy policies promote planning and more sustainable land-management systems. We propose a research agenda to address priority information gaps that are relevant to biodiversity concerns and related policy challenges in the Pan American region.
authors.affiliation: Center for BioEnergy Sustainability, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, 37831, TN, USA. klinekl@ornl.gov.
authors.forename: Keith L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Kline
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Development Practices Graduate Program, UFRRJ/Conservation International Brasil, Seropédica, Brazil. fmartinelli@conservation.org.
authors.forename: Fernanda Silva
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.affiliation: School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science and Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA. almayer@mtu.edu.
authors.forename: Audrey L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.affiliation: Conservation International Brazil and Department of Environmental Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. rmedeiros@conservation.org.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.affiliation: University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, Brazil. camila.ortolan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Camila Ortolan F
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: University of São Paulo, USP, Piracicaba, Brazil. gerd@usp.br.
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sparovek
authors.affiliation: University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, Brazil. awalter@fem.unicamp.br.
authors.forename: Arnaldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Canadian Forest Service, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada. lisa.venier@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Venier
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D044822:Biodiversity; D001938:Brazil; D002170:Canada; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D014481:United States
keywords: Biofuel; Brazil; Canada; Ecological impacts; Forest residue; Woody biomass