Student members of the International Forestry Students' Association at Gajah Mada University, pictured together with Bambang Arifatmi, Indonesia’s National Forestry Consultant for UN-REDD and Siska Widyawati, FAO ID Communications Specialist

The International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA) is the largest organization for forestry science students in the world. One of their local committees (IFSA LC UGM) operates at Gadjah Mada University and has a very active student community. At the end of 2017, IFSA LC UGM held an event to provide its members with the opportunity to gain special knowledge and to visit several institutions related to forestry. The name of the event was “Forestry in A Diverse”.

On December 4th 2017, IFSA LC UGM visited the office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Jakarta. Students were warmly welcomed by Bambang Arifatmi, Indonesia’s National Forestry Consultant for UN-REDD who gave a presentation on how the FAO is supporting sustainable forestry for food and nutrition security in Indonesia.
Forests play an important role for people, wildlife, and the climate. In addition, forests are extremely biodiverse areas which contribute highly to food and nutrition security in a variety of ways. It is estimated that one billion people worldwide rely on forest products for nutrition and income, with wild harvested meat from forests providing 30-50% of essential protein intake for many rural communities.

There are four ways in which forests contribute to food and nutrition security in Indonesia. They are availability, access, utilisation and stability. In terms of food availability, forests provide a wide variety of foods such as nuts, roots, fruits, seeds, mushrooms, insects, honey and wild meat which are all extremely healthy sources of essential nutrients. Forests also provide diverse employment opportunities for rural households, enabling them to access monetised food markets. Food stability is also enhanced through sustainable forest ecosystems which may mitigate the negative effects of climate change and serve as a safety net in times of need. Finally, the use of wood from forests is a major source of energy for the cooking of food, further increasing the bioavailability of certain nutrients.

However, as the students learned, global forests are becoming increasingly overexploited. “Between 1990 and 2015, the world lost 129 million hectares forest” cited Bambang using the land area of South Africa to demonstrate the huge extent the degradation. He then proceeded to talk about how agriculture is currently the largest driver of global deforestation, ecosystem degradation, diminishing water availability and biodiversity loss. These impacts all have serious implications for food security, especially in a country like Indonesia where large sections of the population are dependent on forests for survival.

Therefore, as Bambang explained, policies are needed which ensure forests are protected and that local communities have stable access to their natural resources. He suggested “effective legal and institutional frameworks to secure land tenure of smallholders and regulate land use change”, furthermore emphasising how “coordinated forest, agriculture, and food security policies must be present in all rural development strategies”.
Students were very grateful for the chance to share, gain, and broaden their knowledge, as well as receive updates on the global state of forests and the environment during their visit. Overall, the day was a success for all involved and highlighted the importance of involving youth in all stages of the sustainable development process.

“It was a great experience for me to learn about Food Security from the source directly. I hope that the knowledge I acquired from the experts at the FAO will lead me to a better understanding of food security in Indonesia , “ said UGM student Sigit Bagus Darmawan.