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The Role of Forests, Trees and Wild Biodiversity for Nutrition-Sensitive Food Systems and Landscapes









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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Biodiversity in Action — #3 2023
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    The loss and erosion of biodiversity for food and agriculture in the Europe and Central Asia region pose a substantial and increasing threat to the availability of and access to healthy, nutritious and diverse diets, particularly among vulnerable and marginalised populations. Being a source of variety in essential foods, nutrients, vitamins, minerals and medicines, biodiversity is a determinant of food security and a sustainable diet. The third issue of Biodiversity in Action illustrates why the health of humans and the environment requires biodiversity and how all dimensions of food security depend on it, highlighting the risks for nutrition and health and the benefits for food and nutritional security. The significant role that rural women play in the nutrition and safeguarding the biodiversity for food and agriculture, the potential of traditional and underutilised species for food security, and the nexus of nutrition, seeds and emergencies are referenced. Finally, the brochure reflects on how the FAO helps Member Nations in the Europe and Central Asia region address food insecurity, reduce all forms of malnutrition and transform agrifood systems to become more inclusive and provide for the sustainable use and protection of biodiversity, promoting nutrition-sensitive value chains and healthy diets while facilitating the One Health approach.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Sustainable management of Miombo woodlands
    Food security, nutrition and wood energy
    2018
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    The Miombo woodland is a vast African dryland forest ecosystem covering close to 2.7 million km2 across southern Africa (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The woodlands are characterized by the dominance of Brachystegia species, either alone or in association with Julbernardia and Isoberlinia species. It is estimated that the woodlands – through their numerous goods and services which include various non-wood forest products (NWFPs) (e.g. insects, mushrooms, fruits, tubers, medicine, fodder, honey, seeds) and woodfuels, which, for simplicity, will be referred to as non-timber forest products, or NTFPs, throughout the publication – sustain the livelihoods of more than 100 million rural poor and 50 million urban people. The charcoal sector alone employs vast numbers of rural people and offers additional income to many poor rural families. Communities moreover rely directly on the woodlands for food and nutrition. NWFPs add vital micro- and macronutrients to local diets and contribute to diversified food systems, while woodfuel is essential for cooking and sterilizing, thus ensuring proper nutrient absorption and providing clean water for drinking. Forests and trees, if managed sustainably, are an important source of resilience for rural people in the Miombo woodlands, supporting households to absorb and recover from climatic or economic calamities and contributing to resolving the underlying causes of food insecurity, undernutrition and poverty by providing nutritious edible products and woodfuel for cooking in addition to conserving biodiversity and water resources, buffering extreme weather conditions and preventing land degradation and desertification. Generally speaking, it is now accepted that forests managed for both timber and NTFPs retain more biodiversity and resilience than forests managed solely for one aspect, e.g. timber and exotic timber plantations. However, a growing population in high need of agricultural land and unsustainable use and overharvesting of natural resources in parts of the Miombo woodlands, combined with climate change impacts (e.g. drought, fires), leave insufficient time for many trees and associated species to regenerate naturally, posing a serious threat to the products and services of the woodlands, and to the livelihoods depending on them. Compounding the problem and hindering development of the Miombo ecosystem, are: i) lack of an enabling policy environment; ii) unsustainable management; iii) limited willingness and ability to pay for and access to energy-efficiency technologies; iv) inadequate awareness and information, including technical capacity; v) high poverty levels; and vi) limited access to microcredit facilities. With the Committee on World Food Security’s endorsement of the recommendations presented in the High Level Panel of Experts Report on Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition in late 2017 – which include promoting multifunctional landscapes, integrated food-forestry systems, and research on associated linkages, among other things – forests and trees are expected to play a greater role in future land-use decisions and related policies. This paper provides an overview of these linkages in the context of the Miombo woodlands, in the hope that future land use, policy decisions and financial investments are shaped to support the contributions of forests and trees to the health and livelihoods of communities in the ecoregion. The following key messages were formulated: • Forests and trees, if managed sustainably, are an important source of resilience for rural people in the Miombo woodlands, supporting households to absorb and recover from climatic or economic calamities and contributing to resolving the underlying causes of food insecurity, undernutrition and poverty by providing nutritious edible products and woodfuel for cooking in addition to conserving biodiversity and water resources, buffering extreme weather conditions and preventing land degradation and desertification. • Current data bases referring to the value of the Miombo must be analysed and used as evidence to improve policy-making. • Miombo woodlands may be dominant (spatially), but they have not been addressed as a single unit but as part of the region’s forests. They form part of the overall forestry strategies and no specific mention in the conventions does not suggest that their importance is underplayed. • The management of Miombo will require some changes in management structures, especially in providing benefits emerging from trade in forest products to local managers. • Local forest managers should play a greater role in allocating resources for feedstock for charcoal production.
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Evaluation of FAO’s contributions to Sustainable Development Goal 2
    Nutrition education
    2021
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    Unhealthy diets remain one of the main contributors to the global burden of malnutrition and disease. According to the World Health Organization Global Nutrition Report 2018, poor feeding of infants and young children remains a key cause of infant malnutrition. Thus, actions to improve diet, including holistic nutrition education, are key to achieving SDG 2 target 2.2 on ending all forms of malnutrition. FAO has been working for many years to support countries in promoting healthy diets through school, community and professional nutrition education. Its nutrition education approach uses diverse strategies to foster lifelong healthy eating habits and promote environments that support good nutrition and healthful food choices. This study focuses on those initiatives with the potential to be upscaled and to make a significant contribution to the achievement of SDG 2 targets. It assesses achievements linked to SDG 2, ties to the key principles of the 2030 Agenda, lessons learned and the factors behind successes and challenges to implementation, replication and upscaling. The study found human and financial resources to be among the main constraints on FAO’s nutrition work. While nutrition education is crosscutting and often included in projects, it receives few resources and has low visibility. Most interventions are small-scale pilots that depend on rare regular budget allocations. The study recommends that nutrition education be included as part of other measures to promote healthy food environments and that it be integrated into the curriculums of agricultural and rural development training institutions to bolster human capacity to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems and healthy diets.

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