forests, people and food: why trees are good for you!!
TRANSCRIPT
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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@TCHSunderland
Thank you