Building a resilient bioeconomy : Unlocking Africa’s potential by harnessing sustainable growth from biomass valorisation

A well-developed bioeconomy supports food security by promoting sustainable production, reducing biomass residues and waste, diversifying diets, and building resilient food systems.What kind of bioeconomy a country desires can be achieved by a well-designed bioeconomy strategy.This depends on the (potential) availability of biomass, which in turn is dependent on natural resources, technology, and national and global societal objectives.Next to a definition of a sustainable bioeconomy, the development of bioeconomy strategies, a framework is presented that can address and assess the complex relationship between bioeconomy and societal objectives and can help to design a bioeconomy strategy that serves human well-being.Many African countries are rich in biomass resources.In the African context, food security is a primary societal objective.Developing a bioeconomy can increase food security by increasing employment and income opportunities and thus improving access to food.Health can be enhanced by nutritious diets and bio-pharmaceuticals (e.g.vaccines).The production of bioenergy demands a very large amount of biomass and, consequently, alternative renewable energy sources such as sun and wind should be considered.A focus on biomaterials could replace fossil based materials, requires relatively small amounts of biomass and captures and stores carbon from the atmosphere.A bioeconomy must be carefully designed to take full account of potential synergies and trade-offs.We conclude with suggestions for possible policy interventions that G20 member states could implement to balance fossil resource dependency with food security, while releasing the potential of the bioeconomy.