The importance of adequate policies and governance mechanisms to build a Sustainable Bioeconomy Strategy

Abstract

The advancement of the bioeconomy has conducted to a new era, whereby fossil-based products and ser-vices are replaced by sustainable, renewable, and circular biobased materials and approaches. This shift not only safeguards natural resources and ecosystems. It can maintain or even further boost economic and so-cietal equilibrium, through the development of new business models, products and services. However, due to the multifaceted nature of the bioeconomy, creating suitable public policies and governance mecha-nisms is a complex task. Establishing effective policies requires a framework that leverages synergies across agriculture, energy, environment, and social sectors. Given its intricacy, successful implementation de-mands inter-ministerial collaboration, policy coherence, and coordination among various stakeholders at local, regional, national, EU, and even, international levels. Integrating scientific insights from academia and research projects involving diverse stakeholders from industry, public and private sectors, and poli-cymakers is crucial for shaping balanced and effective public policies. In light of ongoing global changes, reassessing existing knowledge, policies, and governance mechanisms is imperative. This work aims to provide an overview of existing European and national policies supporting the bioeconomy, while under-scoring critical gaps that must be addressed for its sustainable implementation. These gaps include design-ing mechanisms to regulate soil and water management in the different value chains, resolving competition in the use of biomass between sectors, formulating policies for water and soil management in order to im-prove their quality, properties and availability, and other key issues such as literacy and the creation, con-solidation and transfer of knowledge.