seeing the wood for the trees:beyond bio-forfication: nutrion, cooking & health
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Professor Tony Cunningham at CBD COP11 Event in Hyderabad, 17October2012. World Agroforestry Centre/ICRAF. Title: "Seeing the Wood for the Trees.".TRANSCRIPT
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SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES:
Dr A B (Tony) Cunningham ICRAF Senior Associate &
School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia
beyond bio-‐for,fica,on: nutri,on, cooking & health
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OVERVIEW • 1. Context
• 2. Why worry about what’s used for cooking?
• 3. Where does solid fuel use for cooking occur?
• 4. Common intervenAons;
• 5. Fuel choices, toxic effects & agroforestry soluAons
• 6. Conclusions.
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• “Hidden hunger” – micro-‐nutrient deficiency;
• “nutriAon transiAon” & bioforAficaAon in further dietary simplificaAon vs. biodiversity in nutriAon (Frison et al., 2004, COP7; Johns and Eyzaguirre. 2007);
• Looking out of the frying pan & into the fire….(or at fuelwood & charcoal diversity)….
1. CONTEXT
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WHAT SCALE? CASE STUDY: TANZANIA & MALAWI
• About half of Tanzania’s annual consumpAon of charcoal takes place in Dar es Salaam (c.500,000 tons/yr) from a “catchment” up to 200 km away (WB, 2009);
• Tanzania: trade worth US$650 million/yr (WB, 2009) & in Malawi c. US$41.3 million/yr to four ciAes (=tea industry) (Kambewa et al, 2007);
• Ref: World Bank. 2009. Environmental crisis or sustainable development opportunity?: Transforming the charcoal sector in Tanzania. World Bank, Washington DC.
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2. BACKGROUND • 2.4 billion people live in households where solid biomass fuels (wood, charcoal, dung) are used for cooking & heaAng plus 0.6 million using coal (Po et al., 2011);
• About 2 million children/yr die of pneumonia. Smoke (=indoor air polluAon) increases risk of pneumonia by 1.8 in children (Dherani et al, 2008; Hu et al., 2010; Po et al., 2011);
• Not all woods are the same: toxins in fuelwoods can have serious health consequences.
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3. WHERE DOES SOLID FUEL USE FOR COOKING OCCUR?
• Ref: Torres-‐Duque et al. 2008. Biomass Fuels and Respiratory Diseases. Proc Am Thorac Soc 5: 577–590
but what about tree diversity & fuelwood & charcoal quality?
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4. COMMON INTERVENTIONS
• improvements of household venAlaAon;
• IntroducAon of different stove designs;
• TransiAons to other energy sources (e.g: rural electrificaAon);
• …but charcoal & fuelwood sAll widely used, even with rural electrificaAon.
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CASE STUDY: SOUTH AFRICA
• electrificaAon yet no significant decrease in per capita woody biomass consumpAon…BUT:
• significant increase in the Ame spent collecAng fuelwood & more buying firewood;
• larger number of tree species collected & used for fuelwood than before…..so wood use will be with us for a while….
REF: Madubansi M & Shackleton C.M. (2006). Changing Energy Profiles and consumpAon pakerns following electrificaAon in five rural villages, South Africa. Energy Policy. 34:4081-‐4092
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5. FUEL CHOICES & TOXIC EFFECTS
• What is used to cook foods by which households & what levels of exposure to what types of smoke?;
• Toxic effects of certain plant species, genera & families well known (eg: Spirostachys (Africa), Excoecaria agallocha (South Asia) which contain the diterpene excoecarin;
• More subtle effects can be more insidious.
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SMOKE IS NATURAL, BUT IS IT GOOD?
• Polycyclic aromaAc hydrocarbons (PAH) (e.g: benzopyrenes) = carcinogenic (cancer of lungs, pharynx & larynx);
• Polycyclic aromaAcs & metal ions in smoke (toxins absorbed into eye lenses, causing oxidaAve change & cataracts);
• Need to understand mutagenicity emission potency of different wood species are used as fuel.
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SEEING WOOD, TREES & LANDSCAPES
less choice of fuelwoods, parAcularly for poor & vulnerable households
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COMBINE WOOD MUTAGENIC ASSESSMENTS & LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
• mutagenic potency of some fuelwood species has been established (e.g: Vu et al., 2012, Portugal) but more Asian and African studies needed;
• Good to use informant-‐based valuaAon systems & local knowledge to prioriAze fuelwood species (Cunningham, 2001);
• Euclea as an example.
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CASE STUDY: STRYCHNOS, 5 YR FAMINE FOOD
• Highly favoured woods: Newtonia hildebrand9i, Pteleopsis myr9folia vs. poor quality woods (e.g: Albizia versicolor) (Cunningham, 1985)
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AGROFORESTRY & SELECTING “GOOD WOODS”
• SelecAon for chemotypes with low toxic levels (e.g: polycyclic aromaAc hydrocarbons) -‐ parAcipatory processes & local knowledge important
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6. CONCLUSION: A SYSTEMS APPROACH
• RestoraAon, agroforestry & Resource management
• availability of quanAty & quality of fruit, fuel & fodder
species
FOOD & FUELWOOD AVAILABILITY
• Social networks;
• Income to buy food & fuel; • Disease impacts on capability (malaria, respiratory diseases, HIV); • Direct & indirect impacts of climate on land-‐use
& food security.
FOOD & FUEL ACCESS
• Nutrient content of foods
(oils, proteins, vitamins);
* Opportunity to boil water & cook foods;
• Indirect effects on human health & ability to absorb nutrients
(fungal & fuel toxins, water & sanitaAon)
NUTRIENT ACCESS
PEOPLE’S
WELL BEING
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THANK YOU