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NilsDroste

Nils Droste

Associate professor

NilsDroste

Reviewing the interface of bioeconomy and ecosystem service research

Author

  • Dalia D’Amato
  • Bartosz Bartkowski
  • Nils Droste

Summary, in English

The bioeconomy is currently being globally promoted as a sustainability avenue involving several societal actors. While the bioeconomy is broadly about the substitution of fossil resources with bio-based ones, three main (competing or complementary) bioeconomy visions are emerging in scientific literature: resource, biotechnology, and agroecology. The implementation of one or more of these visions into strategies implies changes to land use and thus ecosystem services delivery, with notable trade-offs. This review aims to explore the interdisciplinary space at the interface of these two concepts. We reviewed scientific publications explicitly referring to bioeconomy and ecosystem services in their title, abstract, or keywords, with 45 documents identified as relevant. The literature appeared to be emerging and fragmented but eight themes were discernible (in order of decreasing occurrence frequency in the literature): a. technical and economic feasibility of biomass extraction and use; b. potential and challenges of the bioeconomy; c. frameworks and tools; d. sustainability of bio-based processes, products, and services; e. environmental sustainability of the bioeconomy; f. governance of the bioeconomy; g. biosecurity; h. bioremediation. Approximately half of the documents aligned to a resource vision of the bioeconomy, with emphasis on biomass production. Agroecology and biotechnology visions were less frequently found, but multiple visions generally tended to occur in each document. The discussion highlights gaps in the current research on the topic and argues for communication between the ecosystem services and bioeconomy communities to forward both research areas in the context of sustainability science.

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate

Publishing year

2020-12-01

Language

English

Pages

1878-1896

Publication/Series

Ambio

Volume

49

Issue

12

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Political Science

Keywords

  • Agroecology
  • Biotechnology
  • Circular bioeconomy
  • Green economy
  • Natural capital
  • Sustainability transformations

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0044-7447