Implementing bioeconomy strategies and policies

The paper examines bioeconomy implementation in Colombia, Thailand, and East Africa, highlighting a common gap between high-level strategies and ground-level execution. In Colombia, the focus is on territorial strategies and balancing biodiversity conservation with sustainable use. Thailand emphasizes a Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) model driven by Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), though it faces challenges in including artisanal bioeconomy and smallholder farmers. East Africa utilizes a regional strategy (2022–2032) focusing on circularity and value addition, but struggles with infrastructure and funding. Cross-regional findings suggest that successful implementation requires robust monitoring, tailored capacity building, diverse financial support, and inclusive governance.

• Colombia's bioeconomy approach emphasizes a 'territorial' or subnational strategy to account for biophysical and socio-economic heterogeneity, with specific visions developed for regions like Valle del Cauca and the Caribbean.
• The Colombian government's 'Mission of Bioeconomy and Territory' (2023) identifies a primary implementation bottleneck as the low development and fragmentation of value chains based on the sustainable use of biomass and biodiversity in various regions.
• Thailand implements the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) framework as part of its 'Thailand 4.0' industrial policy, prioritizing four sectors: food and agriculture, medical and wellness, energy, material and biochemical, and tourism and creative economy.
• Thailand's bioeconomy implementation is heavily driven by Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) where the private sector leads agenda-setting, which has led to an industrial bias that often marginalizes artisanal bioeconomy and smallholder farmers.
• East Africa has developed a comprehensive regional bioeconomy strategy for 2022–2032 that integrates circularity to maximize the value of bioresources in largely arid or semi-arid environments.
• Implementation of the bioeconomy in East Africa is constrained by significant infrastructure deficits in transportation, energy, and storage, as well as a lack of harmonized intellectual property (IP) laws across the region.
• Cross-regional analysis identifies four critical elements for closing the implementation gap: robust monitoring (using indicators like startup survival rates), tailored capacity building for local stakeholders, diverse financial support (public, private, and international), and inclusive governance.
• A recurring challenge across all three regions is the tension between industrial-scale bioeconomy goals and the needs of small-scale or artisanal producers, who often lack the financing and regulatory support to scale their innovations.

APA

Lutta, A., Melati, K., Garzón, C., Zhu, H., Denduang, B., Johnson, F. X., & Trujillo, M. (2025). Implementing bioeconomy strategies and policies. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/implementing-bioeconomy-strategy-policies-sei2025-031.pdf

Chicago

Lutta, Alphayo, Kuntum Melati, Camilo Garzón, Huiling Zhu, Benjaluck Denduang, Francis X. Johnson, and Mónica Trujillo. Implementing bioeconomy strategies and policies. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2025. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/implementing-bioeconomy-strategy-policies-sei2025-031.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lutta |first1=Alphayo |last2=Melati |first2=Kuntum |last3=Garzón |first3=Camilo |last4=Zhu |first4=Huiling |last5=Denduang |first5=Benjaluck |last6=Johnson |first6=Francis X. |last7=Trujillo |first7=Mónica |title=Implementing bioeconomy strategies and policies |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=September 2025 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/implementing-bioeconomy-strategy-policies-sei2025-031.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lutta2025implementing, author = {Lutta, Alphayo and Melati, Kuntum and Garzón, Camilo and Zhu, Huiling and Denduang, Benjaluck and Johnson, Francis X. and Trujillo, Mónica}, title = {{Implementing bioeconomy strategies and policies}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2025}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/implementing-bioeconomy-strategy-policies-sei2025-031.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }