Key messages

• Fossil fuel-based energy supply is unsustainable; bioenergy is a viable alternative to address future societies’ energy needs sustainably.
• Bioenergy production is an important component to a low-carbon and energy-secure future in the land-use sector in many countries, including Indonesia.
• In many cases, land use for energy crops has had detrimental effects – such as increased competition for arable land and water; and conversion of native vegetation to monocultures with vastly reduced biodiversity and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• Well-designed agroecosystems could produce fuel from plants grown on degraded and marginal land, which would contribute substantially to Indonesia’s targets for biofuels, while minimizing negative environmental and social effects and stimulating local economies.
• The CIFOR/KFRI research on bioenergy aims to assess the potential of bioenergy production on degraded land in Indonesia, and the merits and demerits of such systems, from economic, environmental and social standpoints – to assist decision-making by policymakers and investors.