Bioenergy production on marginal land is a pathway to lessen the pressure bioenergy development puts on productive agricultural land and food production. FTA is analyzing options for bioenergy production so that stakeholders better understand how land can best be allocated to bioenergy and how land use can be better taken into account in national policies in a way that further integrates food and bioenergy policies, and as a basis for upscaling bioenergy.

FTA is producing analysis on degraded land use suitable for biofuel production in Indonesia (spatial assessment, landowner perception, soil rehabilitation, and socio-economic and environmental food/fuel integration assessment). This includes generating technical information to broaden the species basis for bioenergy, with a special focus on bamboo as a fast-growing provider of charcoal that compares well with Teak and Acacia in terms of calorific value, yet has less smoke and no sparks as well as a report on life cycle analysis of bamboo undertaken with INBAR.