forests, people and food: why trees are good for you!!

Forests, people and food: Why trees are good for you!!

Terry Sunderland, PhDPrincipal Scientist

Centre for International Forestry Research10th March 2016

Ups and downs of a forestry researcher

THINKING beyond the canopy

What is food security? Commonly accepted and used

definition for food security: “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life” (World Food Summit, 1996)

This definition infers that access to enough food (i.e. calories alone) is sufficient

Food security, as defined, does not always equate to nutritional security

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Global trends in food production Agriculture began around 12,000

years ago Approx. 7,000 plant species and

several thousand animal species historically used for human nutrition and health

Since 1900, global trend towards diet simplification

Today, 12 plant crops and 14 animal species provide 98% of world’s food needs

Wheat, rice and maize: represent more than 50% of global energy intake

(Sunderland 2011, IFR; Khoury et al. 2014, PNAS)

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Effects of diet simplification More than 800 million people are under-

nourished and 200 million children are under-weight

In 2009, more than 1 billion people were classified as “hungry”

One billion people obese: greater incidence of Type II diabetes among urban dwellers

Environmental degradation: agriculture significant driver of deforestation & GHG emissions

Vulnerability to catastrophic events: climate-related, pests and diseases, market forces

OUR GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM IS HOMOGENISED, INEFFICIENT AND ENVIRONMENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE!!!

(Sayer et al. 2013, PNAS: Powell et al. 2015, Food Security)

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And here’s what happens when our food system is really broken

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Forests and livelihoods: the evidence One billion+ people rely on forest products for

nutrition and income in some way (Agrawal et al. 2013)

PEN: One fifth of rural income derived from the environment (Wunder et al. 2014) often outstripping agricultural income

Wild harvested meat provides 30-50% of protein intake for many rural communities (Nasi et al. 2011)

80% of world’s population rely on biodiversity for primary health care (IUCN 2013)

40% of global food production comes from diverse small-holder agricultural systems in multi-functional landscapes (FAO 2010)

Long tradition of managing forests for food (IUFRO 2013)

Forests sustaining agriculture: ecosystem services provision (Foli et al. 2014)

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So what do tropical forests give us?

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How did we evolve with forest foods ?

Cassava

Your turn to try this one

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Are forests and trees important for food and nutritional security?

Collection of nutritious NTFPs Farm/forest mosaics may

promote more diverse diets Agroforestry and farming

systems Ecosystem services of forests

& trees for agriculture Availability of fuel wood Provision of ‘back up’ foods

for lean season = safety nets

Testing the hypothesis: using data!

• There is a statistically significant positive relationship between % tree cover and dietary diversity (Ickowitz et al. 2014 Global Environmental Change)

• PEN: Forest foods not only contribute significantly towards adequate nutrition, but evidence suggests forest food users in certain sites may enjoy more nutrient rich diets than their average national counterparts: regardless of poverty: (Rowland et al. in press, Env. Cons.)

• Indonesia: Children living in areas with more land area in medium-tree cover class (20-50%) characteristic of swidden agriculture and agroforestry appear to have the most micronutrient-rich diets; (Ickowitz et al PLoS One - in press)

And… What do the data tell us?

“Forests sustaining agriculture”Nutrient Cycling:Studies conducted in agroforestry

systems (AFS): 79% showed a positive effect of tree presence

Pollination:87% of studies showed a positive

effect of nearby (0.3 – 1.6km) forest/forest fragment

Pollination and nutrition linkagesClimate regulation:Yields of some tree crops diminish,

further from forests Forests, trees = resilience(Foli et al. 2014 Env. Evidence; Ellis et al 2015, Plos One)

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Forests and food: The changing “landscape”• IUFRO Global Forests Expert Panel report

on Forests and Landscapes for Food Security & Nutrition

• High Level Panel of Experts of the Committee on World Food Security: “Sustainable forestry and food and nutritional security” to be launched in 2017

• FAO: “Forests make fundamental contributions to diets and nutrition”

• CGIAR Consortium Research Programme on “Nutrition-Sensitive Landscapes”

• Global Landscapes Forums: Forests and food high on the political agenda

• CIFOR listed as one of the 101 “Institutions to watch” in 2015 by FoodTank

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The world is changing.. rapidly

A typical person “consumes” 2.1 ha/year of the Earth’s resources

Seven billion people consume more than 14.7 billion ha/year

Current global capacity is 11 billion ha/year = ecological deficit: We consume more than 1.3 “Earth’s” a year!!!

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Climate change is going to happen in our lifetime!

We will all be experiencing novel climates by 2050

Aged 48 in 2016 Aged 83 in 2050 (yikes!)

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Be nice to the Canadians, the Kazakhs, the Chinese and the folks from Northern Europe (including the

Brits!) as they’re (maybe) going to feed the World in the future!

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Challenges of future sustainable development

Population growth Climate change Food inequity Gender inequity Globalisation and

over-consumption Continued forest and

biodiversity loss

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But it’s not all bad! (Honest) “New” Sustainable

Development Goals post-2015 include specific inclusion of forests and sustainable landscapes

New York Declarations on Forestry and Agriculture – 2014

Zero deforestation commitments by industry

“Landscape approaches” taking centre stage in current development dialogues

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Key messages on forests and food Diverse forest and tree-based production systems offer

advantages over monocropping systems because of their adaptability and resilience.

There are a multitude of ecosystem services provided by forests and trees that simultaneously support food production, nutrition, sustainability and environmental and human health.

Managing landscapes on a multi-functional basis that combines food production, biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem services can contribute to food and nutritional security

Forests and trees alone will not achieve global food security, but can play a major role: discourse has started to change

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www.cifor.orgt.sunderland@cgiar.org

@TCHSunderland

Thank you