The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) 28th Regional Conference for the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday encouraged its member countries to engage in developing biomass energy.

The conference asked the countries to strengthen links between the agricultural sector and current initiatives to develop and commercialize biomass energy, which in many countries were spearheading the energy sector.

Within each country, the conference encouraged the agriculture and forestry sectors to gain a better understanding of the plans and targets of the energy sector and conversely encouraged the energy sector to better comprehend the production systems of the biomass resources, according to a FAO press release.

Biomass was a locally available energy source that could produce heat and power based on liquid, gas or solid derived fuels, which could be the substitution of imported fossil fuels, thus strengthening national energy security, according to the release.

Clean and safe energy services were essential for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, it added.

Source: Xinhua