This document summarizes research on the relationship between forests and nutrition in Indonesia. The research finds: 1) Children living near forests consumed animal source foods like bushmeat more frequently than children in other rural areas, and children living in areas with more natural forest cover had more diverse diets. 2) Children in areas with more land covered by medium-density trees characteristic of agroforestry systems consumed more micronutrient-rich foods like fruits and vegetables. 3) Children near timber plantations ate more fruits, vegetables and legumes frequently. However, children near agricultural plantations did not have nutritional advantages. The research provides preliminary evidence that forests and tree-filled landscapes may positively contribute

1. Forests and Nutrition in Indonesia
Amy Ickowitz, Dominic Rowland, Bronwen Powell,
Mohammad Salim, Terry Sunderland
SCB Asia
Melaka, August 2014

2. • Prevalence of stunting in children under 5:
• 29% of Indonesian households have a caloric intake
below RDA
• About 30% of Indonesians are stunted
• Poor dietary quality
• About 40% of Indonesians suffer from one or more
micronutrient deficiencies , the most common :
• iron, vitamin A, zinc and iodine
• The average Indonesian consumes 102 kg of rice
per year with very low quantities of vegetables,
fruits and animal source foods (BPS 2008)
Food Security and Nutrition in
Indonesia

3. • Discussions on forests vs. food security
• Implicitly about calories
• But if focus is on dietary quality…
• consumption of micronutrient-rich foods (fruits & veg
and animal source foods)
• Then it is possible that forests actually make a
contribution to food security
Forests and Food Security

4. Why might forests and tree-filled landscapes be
important for dietary quality?
 Collection of nutritious NTFPs
 Farming mosaics may promote
more diverse diets
 Agro-forestry and fruit production
 Ecosystem services of forests for
agriculture
 Availability of fuel wood
 May provide ‘back up’ foods for
lean season

5.  Several papers discuss some of these plausible links (Colfer et al.,
2005; Vinceti et al., 2008; Arnold et al., 2011), but little empirical
evidence
 Johnson et al. (2013) finds that net forest loss associated with
less dietary diversity in Malawi
 Recent paper by CIFOR food security team finds that there is a
positive relationship between tree cover and child dietary
diversity in a sample of 21 countries in Africa
Is there evidence?

6. • Children living near forests in Indonesia have better
quality diets than children living in other rural areas
because
• They have access to micronutrient-rich forest
foods (wild fruits, vegetables, bushmeat)
• More likely to practice shifting cultivation and/or
agroforestry which more likely to offer greater
variety of foods
Hypothesis

7. • Also likely to be income poor and have less market
access
• So possible that others can afford to buy more,
nutritious foods in markets
• Are micronutrient-rich foods readily available in
rural markets?
• Can the relatively poor afford them?
• Do they choose to buy them?
But…

8. We merge
• Indonesian Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data from
2003
• Frequency child ate from various food groups in the last 7
days
with
• GLCF MODIS data (250 m resolution) on percentage tree
cover & MOF data on vegetation classes
• Along with several other variables from various data sets
• We run several regressions to see if there is a statistically
significant relationship between frequency of consumption of
various foods and tree cover
Testing the hypothesis

9. • Number of times in the last 7
days child (between 1 and r5
years old) ate:
• Vitamin A rich fruits
• Vitamin A rich vegetables
• Green leafy vegetables
• Other fruits and vegetables
• Animal Source Foods
• Legumes
• Dairy
• We restrict sample to rural areas and
only one observation per mother
Dependent Variables

10. Independent Variables
% Tree Cover
Child characteristics
 Age
 Age squared
 Currently breastfeeding
 sex
Household Characteristics
 Wealth index
 Mother’s education
 Father’s education
 Muslim
Community Characteristics
 % 5km band overlapping with palm oil
concession
 Distance to coast
 Distance to city
 Aridity
 Elevation

11. Sample: about 3300 children between ages 6 and 59
months in 25 provinces across Indonesia

12. Main Results
Natural Forest:
Statistically significant
positive relationship
between area of
community in natural
forest and frequency
of consumption of:
• Animal Source Foods

13. Area with medium tree density positively associated with
frequency of consumption of:
• Vitamin A rich fruit
• Green vegetables
• ‘other’ fruits and veg
• Animal source foods
Areas with timber plantations positively associated with
frequency of consumption of:
• Vitamin A rich fruit
• Orange veg
• Other fruits and veg
• legumes
Other Results

14.  There is no statistically significant association between
areas under agricultural plantation and consumption of
micronutrient rich foods
Another interesting result

15.  Children in areas with more natural forest consume
animals source foods more frequently
 Children living in areas with more timber plantations
consumed fruits, vegetables, and legumes more
frequently
 Children living in areas with more land area in medium-
tree cover class characteristic of swidden agriculture and
agroforestry appear to have the most micronutrient-rich
diets;
 Children living in areas with more area in agricultural
plantation did not have any nutritional advantage
Conclusions

16.  We have found preliminary support for the hypothesis
that forests and tree-filled landscapes are important for
nutrition in Indonesia
 We need more detailed and fine-grained data to help
us understand how and why children in areas with
more tree cover in Indonesia consume fruits and
animal source foods more frequently
• But we think we have enough evidence to say that
discussions of forests vs. food security need to become
more nuanced and consider dietary quality
Conclusions

17. THINKING beyond the canopy
Thank you!