Common ground: Why the bioeconomy and humanitarian sectors need each other
Bio4HUMAN goes beyond simply identifying promising bio-based solutions for humanitarian solid waste management. The project also focuses on understanding how these solutions can be realistically integrated into humanitarian systems – from stakeholder engagement and supply chain realities to governance, financing, and long-term sustainability.
The Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF) plays a key role in this process. Within the project, IBF contributed to stakeholder mapping and scoping activities, supported the identification of existing bio-based solutions and supply chain gaps, and is leading dissemination outputs such as Practice Abstracts and co-leading major legacy outputs like the Bio4HUMAN Replication Roadmap.
In this interview, we speak with Gavin Moroney from IBF about his role in connecting bioeconomy innovation with humanitarian needs, lessons learned from mapping solutions and stakeholders and how he thinks the replication roadmap bears the potential to help ensure Bio4HUMAN’s impact continues beyond the project lifetime.
IBF contributed to mapping stakeholders across Europe and target humanitarian regions. Which type of stakeholder was IBF mapping? From your perspective, why is stakeholder mapping such a critical foundation for multidisciplinary projects like Bio4HUMAN?
Gavin: At IBF, our mission is to promote and encourage the conversion of natural land and sea resources to high value products for the development of a sustainable bioeconomy that is globally competitive and creates local development.
With this ethos in mind, the Bio4HUMAN project presents a great opportunity to use our experience and skills to plug the European bioeconomy ecosystem into the needs of the humanitarian aid operators. In particular, we mapped out industry, academia and policy makers in the bio-based sector.
Stakeholder mapping is important for projects such as Bio4HUMAN as it helps to identify and support co-operation between humanitarian aid operators and bio-based stakeholders; two sectors that may not have traditionally intertwined but both holding the expertise to provide sustainable solutions.
IBF led the work on translation of technical findings into Practice Abstracts designed for end users. From your perspective, how can knowledge products like Practice Abstracts help accelerate adoption of bio-based solutions in real-world settings?
Gavin: Practice Abstracts are particularly important in this project because they help share important results or recommendations in an easily understandable way and concise manner for end users to adapt in their own environments. They should contain recommendations that can efficiently describe the costs and benefits of new solutions which will help adoption at ground level.
IBF is co-leading the development of the Bio4HUMAN Replication Roadmap, one of the project’s key legacy outputs. How would you describe the roadmap in simple terms for someone outside the project?
Gavin: The Bio4HUMAN Replication Roadmap is a step-by-step guide to help humanitarian actors select, adapt, and implement circular bio-based solutions having the potential to positively affect solid waste management in humanitarian destinations, using evidence and field experience from Bio4HUMAN project.
The roadmap is designed as a practical implementation and decision-support tool rather than just a solution catalogue. Why was this distinction important?
Gavin: Many stakeholders are aware of the acute waste problems in humanitarian settings but enabling conditions, such as policy support, advocacy and funding mechanisms, are also required to be addressed to overcome barriers and accelerate sustainable deployment. The roadmap requires strong community buy-in for solutions to be adopted also maximising its reach.
How do you see humanitarian actors, policymakers, and bio-based industry using the roadmap in practice after the project ends?
Gavin: Humanitarian aid organisations should be able to use the roadmap to design pilots and integrate bio-based solutions supporting solid waste management issues. Policymakers at EU and national levels can compare their own policies and regulations in solid waste management to the roadmap so that they can better facilitate solutions and address any gaps. The bio-based industry can use the roadmap to carefully adapt products/services to humanitarian constraints and partner locally with aid organisations to better understand the feasibility of their solutions.
From IBF’s perspective, what is the most important shift in mindset needed to accelerate circular, bio-based approaches in humanitarian operations?
Gavin: From our perspective, it is not yet widely acknowledged that the bioeconomy sector and humanitarian organisation sector may have the skillset to unlock many solid waste management (SWM) challenges in humanitarian settings. Many stakeholders from both sectors are unfamiliar with each other so promotional and awareness initiatives involving both sectors need to be facilitated. It is important that these sectors increasingly share their experiences and knowledge at local, national and EU level.
Bio:
Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF) is the bioeconomy association and innovation cluster of Ireland covering the island of Ireland. IBF’s mission is to promote the conversion of Ireland’s natural land and sea resources to high-value products for the development of a sustainable bioeconomy that is globally competitive and creates local development. IBF supports its members along with the Irish and European innovation ecosystem by providing bioprocess design and scale-up, access to finance and outreach.
In Bio4HUMAN, IBF actively participates in tasks associated with the “Mapping the ground and Scoping exercise Phase 1” work package (WP3), the “Scoping exercise” work package (WP4), and the “Socio-economic and governance aspects evaluation” work package (WP6), whilst also leading the “Identification process of solutions” task of WP4 together with PRO CIVIS and the task of creating a replication plan, guidelines, and recommendations together with BIOEAST HUB within WP8.