forests and forest research for improved food security and nutrition

THINKING beyond the canopy

Forests and Forest Research forImproved Food Security and

Nutrition

Bronwen PowellPost-doc Research Fellow on Forests and Food Security

Forests and Livelihoods(PhD in Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montreal, Canada)

Presentation at the CIFOR 2012 Annual Meeting

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Food Security ↔ Nutrition

Food Security by definition vs. measurement....

Food security exists when all people, at all times,have physical and economic access to sufficient safeand nutritious food to meet their dietary needsand food preferences for a healthy andactive life.

So where does the FAO’s “925 million” come from?

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Iron 2 billion people (<30% of

world) are anaemic

Growth and cognitivedevelopment, schoolperformance, workproductivity and maternalmortality

Sources = animal source foods(meats), legumes, leafygreens, fish, fortified cereals

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Vitamin A up to 500,000 children go

blind each year from vitaminA deficiency ... half of themdie within 12 months ofgoing blind

Infection and immunity

Sources = liver, leafy greens,orange vegetables (carrots,sweet potato, pumpkin),orange fruit, dairy (includinghuman milk)

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Dietary Diversity

And…..

iodine, vitamin B12,

zinc,calcium,

selenium,folate...

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Nutrition Transition 1 billion people in the world areover-weight or obese (Yach et al. 2006,Nature)

146 million people in developingworld have diabetes (Yach et al. 2006,Nature)

“Double Burden”

Mandazi: wheat flour, sugar, oil• 1 serving (~80g)= 300kcal + 21g fat• Not a good source of vitamin A, iron, calcium, zinc (and others)

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The Role of Forests?

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Foods from Forests: Fruits, vegetables, animal foods, fish, mushrooms, honey (Tanzania / Thailand)

Wild Foods for Micronutrients: 31% vitamin A, 26% iron, 23% calcium (Powell et al. in EFN) 37% vitamin A, 17% iron, 30% calcium from Wild Vegetables in Vietnam

(Ogle et al. 2001) Bush meat: loss of wild meat in the diet = 29% increase in children with

anemia (Golden et al. 2011) and work by Nasi, van Vliet, Fa… among others

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Ecosystem services / effect of tree cover: Tree cover positively correlated with dietary diversity (Powell 2012) In the dry season tree cover within 2km from the home was associated

with vegetable consumption (Powell 2012) Ickowitz et al. forthcoming...

Market Integration: When forest people move out of forest (Dounias et al. 2007, Dounias and Froment 2006)

PES in Mexico (Ibarra et al. 2011)

Capacity Building / Cross-cutting work: Many call for nutrition as a cross-cutting issue (across edu., agriculture, forestry)

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Micronutrients

“The Hidden Hunger”

17% of people in developingcountries are undernourished(FAO)

26.5% of children under 5 indeveloping countries areSTUNTED

Stunting (too short) =chronic growth failureheight for age Z score

(HAZ)

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The Role of Forests?