The socio-environmental challenges in the transition to sustainable bioeconomy

global environmental and socio-economic challenges, from climate
change to income diversification and food security. Consequently,
the term "bioeconomy" has gained considerable attention in the
economic field over the last 15 years. Interestingly, an alleged global
sustainable development model has become the subject of intense
sustainability debate among researchers in recent years. The
sustainability of the bioeconomy itself remains unanswered today.
Most of the previous studies on sustainable bioeconomy focused on
the analysis of the impacts on technology related to environmental
issues while overlooking the socio-environmental implications and
excluding society. Meanwhile, various studies highlight potential
socio-environmental negative impacts associated with the new
economic model. It is possible that the increased use of biological
resources could further compromise ecosystems and create
increasing social and ethical issues. Furthermore, this economic
model could bring new environmental challenges related to the
excessive use of soil and water. Therefore, the purpose of this paper
is to examine and identify potential socio-environmental
sustainability challenges and pitfalls that need to be addressed in
order to ensure a successful transition to a sustainable bioeconomy.
Following a systematic literature review, scientific studies and field
reports were selected for this review after searching Google Scholar,
Web of Science and Scopus databases. The results identified a
number of potential key socio-environmental concerns related to the
transition to the bioeconomy.