www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

United Nations efforts to promote bio-energy sources such as sugar cane or
sunflower seeds to replace fossil fuels like petroleum, thus reducing
poverty while producing clean, low-cost power, gained new momentum today
with the inauguration of the Secretariat of the Global Bioenergy Partnership
(GBEP), September 2006.

Launched at the 14th Session of the UN Commission for Sustainable
Development in May in New York, the Secretariat is located at the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO)headquarters in Rome and is supported by
the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. Its mandate includes
facilitating a global political forum to promote bioenergy and to encourage
the production, marketing and use of ?green? fuels, with particular focus on
developing countries. ?We are happy that FAO was chosen to host the GBEP
Secretariat,? FAO Assistant Director-General for Sustainable Development
Alexander Müller said. ?Its presence will stimulate us to continue helping
governments and institutions formulate appropriate bioenergy policies and
strategies. We hope the creation of a Global Bioenergy Partnership will help
reduce current dependency on oil.? Over the next decades, bio-energy will
most probably provide an increasing amount of the world?s energy needs, but
this must be done in a sustainable manner, he added. The Secretariat will be
the principal coordinator of Partnership communications and activities and
will assist international exchanges of know-how and technology, promote
supportive policy frameworks and identify ways of fostering investments and
removing barriers to the development and implementation of joint projects.
In the short term, the Secretariat will update the inventory of existing
networks, initiatives and institutions dealing with bio-energy and identify
any gaps in knowledge. It will also assist the Partners in identifying and
implementing bilateral and multilateral projects for sustainable bio-energy
development and support the formulation of guidelines for measuring
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions due to the use of bio-fuels.

[www.un.org]

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