Published on March 7, 2014
Forests, trees and agroforestry: What role in food security and nutrition? Terry Sunderland CGIAR Nutrition and food safety workshop Lusaka, Zambia 20th January 2014 THINKING beyond the canopy
FTA Conceptual framework and components THINKING beyond the canopy
Themes System Level Outcomes (SLOs) Intermediate Development Outcomes (IDOs) Theme 1 Smallholder produc.on systems and markets Theme 2 Management and conserva.on of forests and trees Theme 3 Landscape management, biodiversity conserva.on, ecosystem services and livelihoods Theme 4 Theme 5 Climate change adapta.on and mi.ga.on Impacts of trade and investment Cross-cutting themes: Gender Communications Sentinel Landscapes Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment THINKING beyond the canopy
Objectives • Enhancing the management and use of forests, agroforestry and tree genetic resources across the landscape from forests to farms 500 Million ha open/fragmented forests 1.3 Billion ha of closed forests THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests, food security and nutrition • One billion+ people rely on forest products for nutrition and income in some way • Forested landscapes provide important safety-net during times of food insecurity • Wild harvested meat provides 30-50% of protein intake for many rural communities • 75% of world’s population rely on biodiversity for primary health care • 40% of global food production comes from diverse small-holder agricultural systems in multi-functional landscapes • Long tradition of managing forests for food • Forests sustaining agriculture: ecosystem services provision THINKING beyond the canopy
CIFOR’s food security research • Rooted in historical research on NTFPs / landscapes • Funded projects • Publications • Conference attendance and scientific dissemination • Blogs and media coverage • Close collaboration with range of partners • Emerging team of in-house specialists THINKING beyond the canopy
New food security projects • The new agrarian change? Land sparing and land sharing in (Sentinel) landscapes (DfID/USAID) • Nutrition and trees in Sub-Saharan Africa: a comparative regional analysis (DfID/USAID) • Agro-industrial expansion and impacts of the food security of forest dependent livelihoods (DfID) • Nutritional and ecological benefits of forest and tree cover on vegetable collection, production and consumption in semi-arid areas: Ethiopia and Burkina Faso (ADA) • Systematic review: Forests sustaining agriculture - the contribution of forest-based ecosystem services to agricultural production (DfID) • Integrated Research in Development to improve Livelihoods in Northern Province, Zambia (Irish Aid, with World Fish) • Ca. US$2.5 million project portfolio THINKING beyond the canopy
Hypothesis: Trees and Forests are important for dietary quality (dietary diversity) § Collection of nutritious NTFPs § Farming mosaics may promote more diverse diets § Agroforestry and fruit production § Ecosystem services of forests for agriculture § Availability of fuel wood § May provide ‘back up’ foods for lean season THINKING beyond the canopy
Some implications, if true • Forests may be relevant for food security/ nutrition discussion not only because of potential conflicts with another SLO, but because might be of direct importance to nutrition as well • Choices that are framed as food security/ nutrition or conservation are more complex (especially relevant for govt policy) THINKING beyond the canopy
Is there evidence? § Several recent papers discussing some of these plausible links (Colfer et al., 2005; Vinceti et al., 2008; Arnold et al., 2011), but li=le data to support § Recent paper by Johnson et al. (2013) finds that net forest loss associated with less dietary diversity in Malawi § Also, it is plausible that there might be a negative association THINKING beyond the canopy
Testing the hypothesis • Study using DHS data from 21 countries integrated with GIS data on % tree cover to estimate the relationship between tree cover and child nutrition indicators (Ickowitz, Powell, Salim, Sunderland, under review) • CIFOR project collecting dietary intake information from mothers and children in study sites in 5 African countries THINKING beyond the canopy
Study using DHS data We Integrate: • nutrition data from Demographic Health Surveys with • % tree cover data from GLCF (2003 and 2010 MODIS data at 250 m resolution) (as well as other sources for other controls) to investigate whether there is a statistically significant relationship between indicators of dietary quality and tree cover THINKING beyond the canopy
Sample: about 93,000 children between ages 13 and 59 months in over 9,500 communities (21 countries ) THINKING beyond the canopy
Regressions • 3 Dependent Variables: DDS; Fruit & Vegetable consn; Animal Source Food consn • Independent Variables: Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø % Tree Cover and % Tree Cover2 Mother’s education Father’s education Wealth Index Rural Dummy Child age & age2 & age3 Distance to Rd Distance to closest city of 10,000 Aridity Index Elevation Sex of child Currently breastfeeding Month of interview Country dummy THINKING beyond the canopy
Results • There is a statistically significant positive relationship between % tree cover and Dietary Diversity (as proxied by DDS) • Fruit and Vegetable Consumption first increases and then decreases with tree cover (peak tree cover is about 45%) • There is no statistically significant relationship between tree cover and Animal Source Foods THINKING beyond the canopy
Where are we now? • The results of the DHS study give an indication that there are interesting relationships, but are far from offering an explanation • DHS data are coarse • The GIS data don’t tell us the kinds of trees • Data can’t explain WHY children in areas with more trees have more THINKING beyond the canopy
Publications & dissemination 2013 DISCUSSION PAPER Food security and nutrition The role of forests Terry Sunderland Bronwen Powell Amy Ickowitz Samson Foli Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez Robert Nasi Christine Padoch • Discussion Paper: summary of CIFOR’s strategy and approach • Three expert papers for FAO in advance of Food Security Conference (May) • Paper on relationship between tree cover and nutrition in Africa (Global Environmental Change) • Special issue Unasylva • Eight CIFOR blogs, Twitter, Reuters, Voice of America radio, Mongabay & other media coverage THINKING beyond the canopy
Meetings and conferences • FAO, Forests and Food Security (May) • Leverhulme Conference on Integrated Nutrition and Health (June) • UNEP: African Food Security and Adaptation (August) • International Congress for Nutrition (August) • CGIAR Science Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (September) • First global food security conference, Holland (Sept/Oct) THINKING beyond the canopy
Partnerships • ICRAF, Bioversity = FTA • Engagement with CRP4 on flagship “Nutritionsensitive landscapes” • Emerging partners (e.g. HEAL) • USAID’s food security bureau • World Fish (CRP on AAS) • IUFRO Global Forest Expert Panel on food security and nutrition THINKING beyond the canopy
Influencing the agenda? Forests and trees outside forests are essential for global food security and nutrition Summary of the International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy, 13–15 May 2013 THINKING beyond the canopy
Read more… Available on line: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.001 THINKING beyond the canopy
New approaches for integrating agriculture and NRM? • “Eco-agriculture” (Scherr and McNeely 2006) • “Agroecology is complimentary to conventional agriculture and needs scaling up” (United Nations 2011) • “New agriculture needed…” (UNDP 2011) • “Agro-ecological approach” (World Bank 2011) • “Integrated management of biodiversity for food and agriculture” (FAO 2011) THINKING beyond the canopy
Thank you! The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is one of the 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) www.cifor.cgiar.org THINKING beyond the canopy THINKING beyond the canopy
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