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The Contribution of Forests and Trees to Sustainable Diets

Author

Listed:
  • Barbara Vinceti

    (Bioversity International, via dei Tre Denari 472/a, 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy)

  • Céline Termote

    (Bioversity International, via dei Tre Denari 472/a, 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy)

  • Amy Ickowitz

    (Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Jalan CIFOR, Situ Gede, Bogor (Barat) 16115, Indonesia)

  • Bronwen Powell

    (Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Jalan CIFOR, Situ Gede, Bogor (Barat) 16115, Indonesia)

  • Katja Kehlenbeck

    (World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), United Nations Avenue, P. O. Box 30677, Nairobi 00100, Kenya)

  • Danny Hunter

    (Bioversity International, via dei Tre Denari 472/a, 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy
    Charles Sturt University, Orange, New South Wales 2678, Australia)

Abstract

With the growing demands from a population expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050, it is unclear how our current global food system will meet future food needs. Ensuring that all people have access to adequate and nutritious food produced in an environmentally and socio-culturally sustainable manner is one of the greatest challenges of our time. “Sustainable diets” have been proposed as a multidimensional framework to address the need for nutritious and adequate food in the context of the many challenges facing the world today: reducing poverty and hunger, improving environmental health, enhancing human well-being and health, and strengthening local food networks, sustainable livelihoods and cultural heritage. This paper examines the contribution of forests and trees to sustainable diets, covering among others, nutritional, cultural, environmental and provisioning aspects. The literature reviewed highlight major opportunities to strengthen the contribution of forest and tree foods to sustainable diets. However, several constraints need to be removed. They relate to: cultural aspects, sustainable use of non-wood forest products, organization of forest food provisioning, limited knowledge of forest food composition, challenges in adapting management of forests and trees to account for forest foods, and in integrating forest biodiversity into complex landscapes managed for multiple benefits. Finally, the paper identifies research gaps and makes recommendations to enhance the contribution of forest foods to sustainable diets through increased awareness and better integration of information and knowledge on nutritious forest foods into national nutrition strategies and programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara Vinceti & Céline Termote & Amy Ickowitz & Bronwen Powell & Katja Kehlenbeck & Danny Hunter, 2013. "The Contribution of Forests and Trees to Sustainable Diets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-28, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:11:p:4797-4824:d:30327
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Reyes-García, Victoria & Menendez-Baceta, Gorka & Aceituno-Mata, Laura & Acosta-Naranjo, Rufino & Calvet-Mir, Laura & Domínguez, Pablo & Garnatje, Teresa & Gómez-Baggethun, Erik & Molina-Bustamante, M, 2015. "From famine foods to delicatessen: Interpreting trends in the use of wild edible plants through cultural ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 303-311.
    2. Koukou, Elie & Amoussa -Hounkpatin, Waliou & Savy, Mathilde & Ntandou-Bouzitou, Gervais Deleuze & Mitchodigni, Irène Mèdéme & Bodjrènou, Sam & Tovissode, Chenangnon Frédéric & Termote, Céline, 2022. "Contribution of local agrobiodiversity to complementary foods for 6 to 23 months old children in southern rural Benin," African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), vol. 22(05).
    3. Kiran Asher & Annie Shattuck, 2017. "Forests and Food Security: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Gudrun B. Keding & Katja Kehlenbeck & Gina Kennedy & Stepha McMullin, 2017. "Fruit production and consumption: practices, preferences and attitudes of women in rural western Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(3), pages 453-469, June.
    5. Omale M. O. & Dachung G. & Labe T. E., 2021. "Proximate and Mineral Analysis of Some Edible Wild Seeds and Stem in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria," Journal of Agriculture and Crops, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 7(3), pages 91-97, 07-2021.
    6. Narayanan, Sudha, 2021. "Food security from free collection of foods: Evidence from India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    7. Ickowitz, Amy & Powell, Bronwen & Salim, Mohammad & Sunderland, Terry, 2013. "Dietary quality and tree cover in Africa," MPRA Paper 52906, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Paolo Prosperi & Thomas Allen & Bruce Cogill & Martine Padilla & Iuri Peri, 2016. "Towards metrics of sustainable food systems: a review of the resilience and vulnerability literature," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 3-19, March.
    9. C. Hall & J. I. Macdiarmid & R. B. Matthews & P. Smith & S. F. Hubbard & T. P. Dawson, 2019. "The relationship between forest cover and diet quality: a case study of rural southern Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 635-650, June.
    10. Abiodun Olusola Omotayo & Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu, 2020. "Evaluation of Factors Influencing the Inclusion of Indigenous Plants for Food Security among Rural Households in the North West Province of South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-19, November.
    11. Genowefa Blundo-Canto & Gisella S. Cruz-Garcia & Elise F. Talsma & Wendy Francesconi & Ricardo Labarta & Jose Sanchez-Choy & Lisset Perez-Marulanda & Paula Paz-Garcia & Marcela Quintero, 2020. "Changes in food access by mestizo communities associated with deforestation and agrobiodiversity loss in Ucayali, Peruvian Amazon," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(3), pages 637-658, June.
    12. Razafindratsima, Onja H. & Kamoto, Judith F.M. & Sills, Erin O. & Mutta, Doris N. & Song, Conghe & Kabwe, Gillian & Castle, Sarah E. & Kristjanson, Patricia M. & Ryan, Casey M. & Brockhaus, Maria & Su, 2021. "Reviewing the evidence on the roles of forests and tree-based systems in poverty dynamics," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    13. Lauren Q. Sneyd, 2013. "Wild Food, Prices, Diets and Development: Sustainability and Food Security in Urban Cameroon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-32, November.
    14. Babatunde Owolodun & Sonja Merten, 2023. "Food Security from the Forest: The Case of the Commodification of Baobab Fruit ( Adansonia digitata L.) in Boundou Region, Senegal," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-17, July.
    15. Yaoqi Zhang & Wei Geng & Yueqin Shen & Yanling Wang & Yu-Cheng Dai, 2014. "Edible Mushroom Cultivation for Food Security and Rural Development in China: Bio-Innovation, Technological Dissemination and Marketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-13, May.
    16. Long, Ting & Pan, Huanxue & Dong, Chao & Qin, Tao & Ma, Ping, 2019. "Exploring the competitive evolution of global wood forest product trade based on complex network analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 1224-1232.
    17. Hickey, Gordon M. & Pouliot, Mariève & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Wunder, Sven & Nielsen, Martin R., 2016. "Quantifying the economic contribution of wild food harvests to rural livelihoods: A global-comparative analysis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 122-132.
    18. Huiqi Song & Pengwei Chen & Yongxun Zhang & Youcheng Chen, 2021. "Study Progress of Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS): A Literature Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-22, September.
    19. Shahid Hussain & Hassan Sher, 2023. "Indigenous ecological knowledge and wild harvesting of morel mushrooms: the resource productivity and marketing in Swat, Pakistan," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1773-1791, February.

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