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Indicators to assess the contributions of forests, trees, and agroforestry to food security and nutrition at national level

XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022

Year of publication 2022

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 10p.

Author Gitz, V., Taber, A., Sunderland, T., et al.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Article

Synopsis (short abstract) Forest, trees and agroforestry provide multiple contributions to Food Security and Nutrition (FSN), as shown by the GFEP report (2015) and the High-Level Panel of Experts on food security and nutrition report (HLPE 2017). However, there is currently no quantitative indicator to assess these contributions at national level. Here we propose options to fill this gap using four main themes to describe the contributions of forests, trees and agroforestry to food security and nutrition: • direct provision of food and feed; • provision of wood energy used for cooking food and boiling of water in developing countries which is critical for assimilation of nutrients and reduction of risks of diarrhea; • formal and informal employment, sources of income through sales of wood and non-wood orest products (NWFP) from forests, trees and agroforestry; • provision of ecosystem services that sustain food production through water and climate regulation; soil formation and protection, nutrient cycling, pest control and pollination. Some of these contributions, while well-known and described at local levels, like the contribution to livelihoods and to diets, are not included in national statistics. For others, particularly the contribution of ecosystem services to agricultural production, there are multiple dimensions which are difficult to measure even at a local scale. We will propose a set of indicators to track all of these contributions, using existing data that are available for all countries, such as fruit and nut consumption, woodfuel consumption, employment in forestry, and broader contribution of forests and trees to farming households through products, income and other benefits (e.g. ecosystem services, cultural value). We also suggest some ideas for how better more targeted data could be collected in the future. These proposals were discussed during the Expert Workshop in October 2019 in support of the CPF Joint Initiative on streamlining forest related reporting. Keywords: Food systems, Knowledge Management, Monitoring and data collection ID: 3485311

Language English

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