Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition - E-consultation to set the track of the study
At its 41st session in October 2014, the CFS has requested the HLPE to prepare a study on Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition, to feed into CFS debates at the CFS Plenary session of October 2017.
As part of its report elaboration process, the HLPE is launching an e-consultation to seek views and comments on the following scope and building blocks of the report, outlined below, as proposed by the HLPE Steering Committee.
To participate, please visit the dedicated HLPE e-consultation website:
Please note that in parallel to this scoping consultation, the HLPE is calling for interested experts to candidate to the Project Team for this report. The Project Team will be selected by end of March 2015 and will work from April 2015 to December 2016. The call for candidature is open until 26 February 2015; visit the HLPE website www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe for more details.
This HLPE report will aim at an evidence-based, comprehensive analysis of the links between forestry and food security and nutrition (FSN), at different scales, and how sustainable forestry can contribute, including social viability and environmental services, to improved food security and better nutrition. It will consider the various roles of forests, including plantations, on food security and nutrition, at local and global level. The analysis will focus on people that depend on forests for their livelihoods, ways of life, etc. In doing so, the report will consider the pressure on local food systems (including availability of water) induced by increased domestic and foreign demand for timber and other wood products.
1) The role of forests for FSN.
The report will:
- consider forests from a FSN perspective: starting from the four dimensions of FSN (availability, access, utilization and stability), and the contributions of forests (including describing the ways by which these contributions are made);
- address the central issue of biodiversity and ecosystem functions in its linkages to FSN;
- consider different scales, local to global, including with mapping flows of timber and forest products around the world, for different purposes;
- address the question of “FSN of whom”? People living in forests and forests' margins; people having economic activities in forests; poor and marginalized people, depending of forestry workers; people outside forests whose livelihood could depend on forest ecosystemic services (biodiversity, water cycle, biogeochemical cycles); It will address the tensions between these categories of direct and indirect uses and users;
The analysis will consider the current state of the world forests, using available quantitative data, as well as dynamics (among other land-use issues between forests and agriculture), threats (among others climate change), and opportunities relevant to forestry’ roles for food security and nutrition. In doing so it will consider the specificities of the timescales of forestry-related activities.
2) Sustainable forests and forestry for FSN, in the environmental, economic, and social dimensions
The report will discuss the challenges, threats and opportunities and ways to address them in each dimension of sustainability and the specificities of forests, with actions needing to take into account the multiple functions/objectives of forests, traditional knowledge, cultural functions, land-use, adapted management etc.
- Economics - state of the industry, trade, etc.
- Environment - timescales, ecosystems, land-use at different scales, CO2
- Social - including gender, indigenous peoples, and marginalized groups
3) Governance
The report will consider institutions, actors, instruments (law, contracts, international treaties, customary systems, traditional practices, ...), at different levels, and what should be done to improve governance of forests and of related domains for FSN.
Topics
- Read 36 contributions
The sort of “uncultivated” and semi cultivated foods are large in numbers in India, and offer much to the calorific, protein and micro-nutrient needs of human health. Several of these species are either Crop Wild Relatives or economically valuable resource like NWFPs. Many families, especially the women amongst the poor vulnerable communities access this ‘diversity in the lands of commons’ by adopting several management strategies and methods. They also maintain small land holds domesticated or cultivated with diverse kinds of food plants that are not much known to the outside world. The research in this subject area should focus on the need of importance and urgency in reviving the traditional food basket of the world by carrying out integrated research on the nutritional values of the traditional foods and their potential impacts. We should try to find answers for some of the challenging questions like ‘how to create awareness to practice a healthy nutrition system? What are the practical methods to revitalize the traditional food habits of our grandparents, including the use of under-utilized crops? How to promote horticultural and agricultural remedies for nutritional maladies such as Vitamin- A, iron, iodine and zinc deficiencies for improving food and nutritional security of the growing population in developing countries?
I think “Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition” are very closely related as the ecosystem services like crop production, forest production, preserving habitats and biodiversity, water quality regulation, carbon sequestration and regional climate and air quality regulation largely depends on surrounding land use and land cover change and forest health.
Sres. CFS. HILPE
Reciban un sincero saludo de mi parte, a la vez permitanme participacion en presentarle el informe Actividad Forestal Sostenible para la Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional, en lo adelante iniciare el estudio para la presentacion. Porfavor reciban de antemano este breve informe sobre los posible efecto del Niño a la agricultura nacional Republica Dominicana.
I thought the attached report (“Taking the Towns To The People Through Agro-Forestry”,Ed.) would be of interest to you and consideration for inclusion in the consultation efforts.
Regards
Michael Roberto Kenyi Legge,M.Sc(Food Security)
Executive Vision Member
Central Equatoria State Vision 2040 Secretariat
Republic of South Sudan
Juba
In a recent paper
van Noordwijk M, Bizard V, Wangkapattanawong P, Tata HL, Villamor GB, Leimona B, 2014. Tree cover transitions and food security in Southeast Asia. Global Food Security 3, 200-208, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912414000455 (open access)
we analyzed the wide range of situations in Southeast Asia and identified four distinct 'landscape configurations' that have major, qualitative consequences for the way the quantitative relationship between forests (or tree cover) relate to food security and nutrition. We hope this typology and the information summarized can be used for the current HLPR study.
abstract:
Trees are sources of food, especially fruits, critical for healthy diets. Trees also modify microclimate, water and nutrient flows for crops and livestock, and are a source of income, allowing forest-edge communities to be food-sufficient through trade without cutting down forests. Opportunities for ecological intensification, utilizing trees in agricultural landscapes, vary along stages of a tree cover transition of forest alteration and deforestation followed by agroforestation. The nonlinear forest transition curve can provide both a theory of change (similarity of processes) and a theory of place (configuration of state variables). We reviewed local perspectives on food security for four configurations of the forest and landscape transition in Southeast Asia, with local human population densities ranging from less than 10 to 900 km2 to explore how current generic ‘theories of change’ on how to achieve global food security need more explicit ‘theories of place’ that take such differences into account
Generally forests have played a pivotal role in food and nutrition security, in that the poor and the very poor have benefitted immensely from the collection of wild fruits and vegetables and also have taped into apiculture as well as a source of livehood, however forests have a multifaceted benefit if you look at from a food and security angle. Globally the collection of fruit, vegetable, game hunting, apiculture, has kept the poor afloat with regards to their nutrition well being, whilst at the same time maintaining the environment. A good example is of farmers maintaining the trees that bees use as hives and anthills which give them a high plain of nutrition. Forests on the other hand are linked to livestock production, proper land use plans are a result of correct stocking rates and carrying capacity which results in high livestock off-take rates. The more the animals means an improvement in the plain of nutrition for the household. Some forests prvide wetlands were organic rice and fish farming can be carried out whilist restoring biodiversity.
On the other hand climate change has had some serious threats to forestry and biodiversity, in that some plant vegetable matter has gone into extinction due to unpredictable droughts and floods. This has compelled most climate change specialists to design climate smart agriculture and go into climate smart landscaping so as to presrve the forests, which will in turn savour the poor from going hungry.
A good point is that most traditional leaders have now been involved in the management of forests, through goon land use planning practices, however this still has to be addressed through the farmer first approach so that farmers and poor commuties should also have a say in deciding the role of forests. The ITK indigenous technical methods of farmers should be tapped through having focused group discussions, key informant interviews, so that we extrapolate data, about how forests benefit the larger populace. Women play a pivotal role in the management of forests and food and nutrition agendas, because there are the ones who know areas where edible forests plant matter can be found, so it is about respecting womens roles, that we can expand the forests benefits in securing food and nutrition security and better livelihoods.
Also there is a need for scientists/experts to start respecting the indigenous values of our communities so that there is technological exchange of information between indigenous communities and scientists, lets avoid is senario of experts talking to communties but lets speak with them because they ahve a lot of knowledge.
Also people living in forest areas should be taught on forest conservation measures, through mapping of potential IGAS, biodiveristy mapping and also looking at climate smart technologies and sharing this with them. Data should be collected through various basket of tools on how these communities survive and the need for these people to continue living the way they are now, this will all about restoring livelihoods.
This activity is now closed. Please contact [email protected] for any further information.