The Natural Resources Defense Council [1] lists (below) the "Advantages of Biomass Energy":
In 2005, the United Nations adopted the World Summit Outcome, including a commitment "to promote the integration of the three components of sustainable development – economic development, social development and environmental protection – as interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars." (Resolution Adopted by General Assembly [2], page 11)
In 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations issued "Biofuels and the sustainability challenge: A global assessment of sustainability issues, trends, and policies for biofuels and related feedstocks." This report examines the assessment of bioenergy different factors governing the sustainability of biomass production for biofuels, and is the most comprehensive assessment of the sustainability implications of biofuels that I have seen with a global perspective. The authors identify “tests” relevant to these pillars:
These pillars are essentially the same as what is often referred to in the literature as the "3 E's" of sustainability: economics, environment, and (social) equity.
Download and open "Biofuels and the sustainability challenge: A global assessment of sustainability issues, trends and policies for biofuels and related feedstocks [4]" from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Read Section 2.1 Definition of sustainable development (starting on page 67).
Take a few minutes to become familiar with the overall document (review table of contents). You will be using all of Chapter 2 to answer questions in this lesson's assignment.
Not required, but if you have time and are interested, review case studies in Boxes 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5. Very interesting, just a little too "in the weeds" for this lesson. (Okay, I thought that was funny.)
Links
[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20160329183144/http://www.nrdc.org/energy/renewables/biomass.asp
[2] http://data.unaids.org/Topics/UniversalAccess/worldsummitoutcome_resolution_24oct2005_en.pdf
[3] https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/un-system-coordination/gender-mainstreaming
[4] http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/i3126e/i3126e.pdf