Presented by Terry Sunderland at the University of British Columbia

1. Forests, people and food:
Why trees are good for you!!
Terry Sunderland, PhD
Principal Scientist
Centre for International Forestry Research
10th March 2016

2. Ups and downs of a forestry researcher

3. THINKING beyond the canopy
What is food security?
 Commonly accepted and used
definition for food security: “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” (World Food
Summit, 1996)
 This definition infers that access to
enough food (i.e. calories alone) is
sufficient
 Food security, as defined, does not
always equate to nutritional security

4. THINKING beyond the canopy
Global trends in food production
 Agriculture began around 12,000
years ago
 Approx. 7,000 plant species and
several thousand animal species
historically used for human
nutrition and health
 Since 1900, global trend towards
diet simplification
 Today, 12 plant crops and 14
animal species provide 98% of
world’s food needs
 Wheat, rice and maize: represent
more than 50% of global energy
intake
(Sunderland 2011, IFR; Khoury et al. 2014,
PNAS)

5. THINKING beyond the canopy
Effects of diet simplification
 More than 800 million people are under-
nourished and 200 million children are
under-weight
 In 2009, more than 1 billion people were
classified as “hungry”
 One billion people obese: greater
incidence of Type II diabetes among
urban dwellers
 Environmental degradation: agriculture
significant driver of deforestation & GHG
emissions
 Vulnerability to catastrophic events:
climate-related, pests and diseases,
market forces
 OUR GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM IS
HOMOGENISED, INEFFICIENT AND
ENVIRONMENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE!!!
(Sayer et al. 2013, PNAS: Powell et al. 2015, Food Security)

6. THINKING beyond the canopy

7. THINKING beyond the canopy
And here’s what happens when our
food system is really broken

8. THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests and livelihoods: the evidence
 One billion+ people rely on forest products for
nutrition and income in some way (Agrawal et al.
2013)
 PEN: One fifth of rural income derived from the
environment (Wunder et al. 2014) often
outstripping agricultural income
 Wild harvested meat provides 30-50% of protein
intake for many rural communities (Nasi et al.
2011)
 80% of world’s population rely on biodiversity for
primary health care (IUCN 2013)
 40% of global food production comes from
diverse small-holder agricultural systems in multi-
functional landscapes (FAO 2010)
 Long tradition of managing forests for food
(IUFRO 2013)
 Forests sustaining agriculture: ecosystem
services provision (Foli et al. 2014)

9. THINKING beyond the canopy
So what do tropical forests give us?

10. THINKING beyond the canopy
How did we evolve with forest foods ?
Cassava
Your turn to
try this one

11. THINKING beyond the canopy
Are forests and trees important for
food and nutritional security?
 Collection of nutritious
NTFPs
 Farm/forest mosaics may
promote more diverse diets
 Agroforestry and farming
systems
 Ecosystem services of
forests & trees for
agriculture
 Availability of fuel wood
 Provision of ‘back up’ foods
for lean season = safety nets

12. Testing the hypothesis: using data!

13. • There is a statistically significant positive relationship between % tree cover
and dietary diversity (Ickowitz et al. 2014 Global Environmental Change)
• PEN: Forest foods not only contribute significantly towards adequate
nutrition, but evidence suggests forest food users in certain sites may enjoy
more nutrient rich diets than their average national counterparts:
regardless of poverty: (Rowland et al. in press, Env. Cons.)
• Indonesia: Children living in areas with more land area in medium-tree
cover class (20-50%) characteristic of swidden agriculture and agroforestry
appear to have the most micronutrient-rich diets; (Ickowitz et al PLoS One - in press)
And… What do the data tell us?

14. “Forests sustaining agriculture”
Nutrient Cycling:
Studies conducted in agroforestry
systems (AFS): 79% showed a
positive effect of tree presence
Pollination:
87% of studies showed a positive
effect of nearby (0.3 – 1.6km)
forest/forest fragment
Pollination and nutrition linkages
Climate regulation:
Yields of some tree crops diminish,
further from forests
Forests, trees = resilience
(Foli et al. 2014 Env. Evidence; Ellis et al 2015, Plos One)

15. THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests and food: The changing “landscape”
• IUFRO Global Forests Expert Panel report
on Forests and Landscapes for Food
Security & Nutrition
• High Level Panel of Experts of the
Committee on World Food Security:
“Sustainable forestry and food and
nutritional security” to be launched in 2017
• FAO: “Forests make fundamental
contributions to diets and nutrition”
• CGIAR Consortium Research Programme
on “Nutrition-Sensitive Landscapes”
• Global Landscapes Forums: Forests and
food high on the political agenda
• CIFOR listed as one of the 101 “Institutions
to watch” in 2015 by FoodTank

16. THINKING beyond the canopy
The world is changing.. rapidly
A typical person
“consumes” 2.1 ha/year of
the Earth’s resources
Seven billion people
consume more than
14.7 billion ha/year
Current global capacity is 11 billion ha/year = ecological
deficit: We consume more than 1.3 “Earth’s” a year!!!

17. THINKING beyond the canopy
Climate change is going to happen in
our lifetime!
We will all be experiencing novel climates by 2050
Aged 48 in 2016 Aged 83 in 2050 (yikes!)

18. THINKING beyond the canopy
Be nice to the Canadians, the Kazakhs, the Chinese
and the folks from Northern Europe (including the
Brits!) as they’re (maybe) going to feed the World in
the future!

19. THINKING beyond the canopy
Challenges of future sustainable
development
 Population growth
 Climate change
 Food inequity
 Gender inequity
 Globalisation and
over-consumption
 Continued forest and
biodiversity loss

20. THINKING beyond the canopy
But it’s not all bad! (Honest)
 “New” Sustainable
Development Goals post-
2015 include specific
inclusion of forests and
sustainable landscapes
 New York Declarations on
Forestry and Agriculture –
2014
 Zero deforestation
commitments by industry
 “Landscape approaches”
taking centre stage in current
development dialogues

21. THINKING beyond the canopy

23. THINKING beyond the canopy
Key messages on forests and food
 Diverse forest and tree-based production systems offer
advantages over monocropping systems because of their
adaptability and resilience.
 There are a multitude of ecosystem services provided by
forests and trees that simultaneously support food
production, nutrition, sustainability and environmental and
human health.
 Managing landscapes on a multi-functional basis that
combines food production, biodiversity conservation and
the maintenance of ecosystem services can contribute to
food and nutritional security
 Forests and trees alone will not achieve global food
security, but can play a major role: discourse has started to
change

24. THINKING beyond the canopy
www.cifor.org
t.sunderland@cgiar.org
@TCHSunderland
Thank you