Andalusian Circular Bioeconomy Strategy, approved by Andalusian Government on September 18, 2018, focuses on the areas of bioeconomy activities that are less developed in the community and, therefore, need greater institutional support through the implementation of specific actions that facilitate its take-off and consolidation in the medium-long term.
The relevant sectors for the bioeconomy include agriculture, forestry, fishing, food and paper production, as well as part of the chemical, biotechnology and energy industries.
The time horizon of the strategy is 2030 and for this it has resources worth around 1,400 million euros aimed at specific actions that have been developed with the collaboration of more than 50 external experts from the sectors of interest.
The main objective of Andalusian Strategy of the Circular Bioeconomy is to contribute to sustainable growth and development in Andalusia by foresting actions towards the production of renewable and biological products and processes, specifying in this document three strategic objectives:
- Increase the availability of sustainable biomass for its use through innovative treatments.
- Increase the number of bio-industries and biorefineries in Andalusia.
- Increase markets and the consumption of bioproducts and bioenergy in Andalusia.
This document establishes four strategic lines that encompass measures and actions to achieve these objectives:
- Promote production and availability of biomass.
- Improve Infrastructures and logistics of biomass.
- Facilitate industrial transformation processes of biomass resources and industrial production capacities of bioproducts and bioenergy.
- Development of markets for bioproducts and bioenergy.
Andalusian Strategy of the Circular Bioeconomy also includes four instrumental programs of a transversal nature:
A. Communication and awareness.
B. Promotion of R + D + i and education
C. Access to financing
D. Cooperation and collaboration
European and national strategies
The European Commission lanched and adopted on 2012, Europe's Bioeconomy Strategy addresses the production of renewable biological resources and their conversion into vital products and bio-energy. The 2018 update of the Bioeconomy Strategy aims to accelerate the deployment of a sustainable European bioeconomy so as to maximese its contribution towards the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the Paris Agreement.
Delivering a sustainable circular bioeconomy requires a concerted effort by public authorities and industry. To drive this collective effort, and based on three key objectives, the Commission will launch 14 concrete measures in 2019, including:
- Scaling up and strengthening the bio-based sectors:
- Rapidly deploying bioeconomies across Europe:
- Protecting the ecosystem and understanding the ecological limitations of the bioeconomy
The bioeconomy covers all sectors and systems that rely on biological resources. It is one of the EU's largest and most important sectors encompassing agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, bio-energy and bio-based products with an annual turnover of around €2 trillion and around 18 million people employed.
At the national level, Spanish Strategy for Bioeconomy Horizon 2030, approved in 2016, is based on the science-economy-society triangle. The public sector is responsible for promoting, stimulating and coordinating the strategy, the productive and technological bioeconomic sectors and the R + D + i and education.
Relationship between the Bio-economy and the SDGs 2030
Sustainability is defined as the ability to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, ensuring the balance between economic growth, environmental protection and social inclusion.
Sustainable development is therefore the mode of progress that maintains this delicate current balance without jeopardizing it in the future.
The bio-economy is a new way of consuming that responds to environmental and social challenges while creating opportunities for economic development and employment.
The circular economy is an economic concept that is included in the framework of sustainable development and whose objective is the production of goods and services while reducing the consumption and waste of raw materials, water and energy sources. It changes the current production and consumption systems towards regenerative systems based on its design, maintaining the value of resources (materials, water, soil and energy), products and limiting inputs of raw materials and energy. In this way, not only is avoided, as far as possible, the generation of waste and the increase in the resulting negative impacts, but also it is possible to mitigate these adverse impacts on the environment, the climate and human health.
The integration of the bio-economy and the circular economy is strategic to catalyse the transformation of the economic model and change current consumption habits. The movement towards a circular bio-economy in which biological resources are kept as long as possible in the production chain in order to ensure that there are no untapped resources, will increase the efficient and sustainable use of biomass (renewable) resources, replacing resources based on fossil fuels so that more sustainable products are achieved and outputs (by-products and / or waste) of the chain are minimized, that is, in a circular way.
On the other hand, the generation of biomass through agriculture, livestock, fishing, forestry, etc., depends directly on natural resources (water, soil ...) and on the environment, so the depletion of these resources beyond sustainable limits it would undermine the future of the generating sectors, directly influencing the benefits and functions that they perform for society.
Achieving a circular economic model, in which the full value of biomass resources (obtained sustainably) is harnessed, is the path to economic growth, job creation and environmental sustainability.
The Andalusian Circular Bio-economy Strategy defines the bio-economy as the economic model based on the production and use of renewable biomass resources and its sustainable and efficient transformation into bio-products, bioenergy and services for society. The implicit content of this definition, given within the scope of the Andalusian Circular Bio-economy Strategy, is in accordance with the aforementioned.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the result of the agreement reached in 2015 by the Member States of the United Nations and are made up of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 goals enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the Nations. United that cover the different facets of the social, economic and environmental challenges that the world faces.
Although none of the SDGs specifically focuses on the bio-economy, given its crosscutting nature, there are interconnections between it practically with the 17 SDGs, making it a fundamental pillar in achieving them.