THINKING beyond the canopy

Forests, trees and agroforestry: What role in food security and

nutrition?

Terry Sunderland IIED, London 8th April 2014

THINKING beyond the canopy

Forests Trees and Agroforestry: Conceptual framework

THINKING beyond the canopy

Themes

Smallholder  produc.on  systems  and  markets  

Management  and  

conserva.on  of  forests  and  

trees  

Landscape  management,  biodiversity  conserva.on,  ecosystem  services  and  livelihoods  

Climate  change  

adapta.on  and  

mi.ga.on  

Impacts  of  trade  and  investment  

Intermediate  Development  Outcomes  (IDOs)  

System  Level  Outcomes  (SLOs)  

Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4 Theme 5

Cross-cutting themes: Gender

Communications Sentinel Landscapes

Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment

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Forests, food security and nutrition •  One billion+ people rely on forest products

for nutrition and income in some way (Agrawal et al 2013)

•  One fifth of rural income derived from the environment (Wunder et al 2014)

•  Wild harvested meat provides 30-50% of protein intake for many rural communities (Nasi et al 2011)

•  80% of world’s population rely on biodiversity for primary health care (IUCN 2013)

•  40% of global food production comes from diverse small-holder agricultural systems in multi-functional landscapes (FAO 2010)

•  Long tradition of managing forests for food (IUFRO 2013)

•  Forests sustaining agriculture: ecosystem services provision (CIFOR forthcoming)

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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

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Hypothesis: Trees and Forests are important for dietary quality & 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 § Provision of ‘back up’ foods

for lean season = safety nets

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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 few data to support

§ Recent paper by Johnson et al. (2013) finds that net forest loss is associated with reduced dietary diversity in Malawi

§ The bigger picture?

 

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•  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

•  CIFOR project collecting dietary intake information from mothers and children in study sites in five African countries

Testing the hypothesis

THINKING beyond the canopy

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

Study using USAID’s DHS data

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Sample: about 93,000 children between ages 13

and 59 months in over 9,500 communities

(21 countries )

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•  3 Dependent Variables: DDS; Fruit & Vegetable consn; Animal Source Food consn

•  Independent Variables: Ø  % Tree Cover and % Tree Cover2 Ø  Mother’s education Ø  Father’s education Ø  Wealth Index Ø  Rural Dummy Ø  Child age & age2 & age3 Ø  Distance to Rd Ø  Distance to closest city of 10,000 Ø  Aridity Index Ø  Elevation Ø  Sex of child Ø  Currently breastfeeding Ø  Month of interview Ø  Country dummy

Regressions

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•  There is a statistically significant positive relationship between % tree cover and Dietary Diversity

•  Fruit and Vegetable Consumption first increases and then decreases with tree cover (peak tree cover is ca. 45%)

•  There is no statistically significant relationship between tree cover and Animal Source Foods

Results

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•  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/forests •  Data can’t explain WHY

children in areas with more trees have more diverse diets

•  Country level regressions give heterogenous results

•  So….

So what?

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Publications & dissemination 2013

•  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 •  CIFOR blogs, social media,

Reuters, Voice of America radio, Mongabay & other media coverage

D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R

Food security and nutritionThe role of forests

Terry Sunderland

Bronwen Powell

Amy Ickowitz

Samson Foli

Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez

Robert Nasi

Christine Padoch

THINKING beyond the canopy

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

Influencing the agenda?

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Forests, food security & nutrition 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 p.a.

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New approaches for integrating agriculture and NRM at the landscape scale?

•  “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)

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The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is one of the 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Thank you! www.cifor.cgiar.org