SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES:beyond bio-forﬁcation: nutrion, cooking & health

SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES:beyond bio-‐for,ﬁca,on: nutri,on, cooking & health Dr A B (Tony) Cunningham ICRAF Senior Associate & School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia

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.

1. CONTEXT •  “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)….

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.

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.

3. WHERE DOES SOLID FUEL USE FOR COOKING OCCUR? but what about tree diversity & fuelwood & charcoal quality? •  Ref: Torres-‐Duque et al. 2008. Biomass Fuels and Respiratory Diseases. Proc Am Thorac Soc 5: 577–590

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.

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

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.

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.

SEEING WOOD, TREES & LANDSCAPES less choice of fuelwoods, parAcularly for poor & vulnerable households

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.

CASE STUDY: STRYCHNOS, 5 YR FAMINE FOOD •  Highly favoured woods: Newtonia hildebrand9i, Pteleopsis myr9folia vs. poor quality woods (e.g: Albizia versicolor) (Cunningham, 1985)

AGROFORESTRY & SELECTING “GOOD WOODS” •  SelecAon for chemotypes with low toxic levels (e.g: polycyclic aromaAc hydrocarbons) -‐ parAcipatory processes & local knowledge important

6. CONCLUSION: A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOOD & FUELWOOD FOOD & FUEL ACCESS AVAILABILITY •  Social networks; • RestoraAon, agroforestry & •  Income to buy food & fuel; Resource management •  Disease impacts on capability (malaria, respiratory diseases, HIV); •  availability of quanAty & quality •  Direct & indirect impacts of fruit, fuel & fodder PEOPLE’S of climate on land-‐use species & food security. WELL BEING NUTRIENT 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)

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SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES:beyond bio-forﬁcation: nutrion, cooking & health

by World agroforestry Centre on Oct 31, 2012

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