This presentation couples statistics about world hunger and malnutrition with statistics about the micronutrients and ecosystem services forests provide, provoking us to consider the question: what is the role of forests in a world of hungry or malnourished people? Post-doc Research Fellow Bronwen Powell gave this presentation at CIFOR’s Annual Meeting 2012, which was held on 1–5 October at CIFOR’s headquarters in Bogor, Indonesia.

1. Forests and Forest Research for
Improved Food Security and
Nutrition
Bronwen Powell
Post-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
THINKING beyond the canopy

2. 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 safe
and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs
and food preferences for a healthy and
active life.
So where does the FAO’s “925 million” come from?
THINKING beyond the canopy

3. Iron
 2 billion people (<30% of
world) are anaemic
 Growth and cognitive
development, school
performance, work
productivity and maternal
mortality
Sources = animal source foods
(meats), legumes, leafy
greens, fish, fortified cereals
THINKING beyond the canopy

4. Vitamin A
 up to 500,000 children go
blind each year from vitamin
A deficiency ... half of them
die within 12 months of
going blind
 Infection and immunity
Sources = liver, leafy greens,
orange vegetables (carrots,
sweet potato, pumpkin),
orange fruit, dairy (including
human milk)
THINKING beyond the canopy

5. Dietary Diversity
And…..
iodine,
vitamin B12,
zinc,
calcium,
selenium,
folate...
THINKING beyond the canopy

6. Nutrition Transition
 1 billion people in the world are
over-weight or obese (Yach et al. 2006,
Nature)
 146 million people in developing
world 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)
THINKING beyond the canopy

7. The Role of Forests?
THINKING beyond the canopy

8. 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
THINKING beyond the canopy

9. THINKING beyond the canopy

10. 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...
THINKING beyond the canopy

11. 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)

12. Micronutrients
“The Hidden Hunger”
17% of people in developing
countries are undernourished
(FAO)
26.5% of children under 5 in
developing countries are
STUNTED
Stunting (too short) =
chronic growth failure
height for age Z score
(HAZ)
THINKING beyond the canopy

13. The Role of Forests?
THINKING beyond the canopy