Year of publication 2017

Forests have the potential to contribute to food security and nutrition in a number of ways. They are a source of food and they provide woodfuel for cooking, income, employment and ecosystem services that are essential to support agricultural and fishery production. Despite this potential, most often the existing forestry policies are focused on economic efficiency and do not consider the relevance of forests to sustainable food security and nutrition. Conversion of forests to other land uses, for example, is usually justified on an economic basis, with insufficient attention to the long-term environmental and livelihood impacts on local people. This forestry guidance note leads policymakers to realize the potential for forestry policies to support the food security and nutrition of local populations and the world as a whole and to implement necessary changes in the existing forestry policies to give greater consideration to these issues.