Here's how forest foods can help solve global hunger crisis

A new study has suggested that forests could be the trump card in efforts to end global hunger.

About one in nine people globally still suffer from hunger with the majority of the hungry living in Africa and Asia. The world's forests have great potential to improve their nutrition and ensure their livelihoods. In fact, forests and forestry are essential to achieve food security as the limits of boosting agricultural production are becoming increasingly clear.

That's according to the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date on the relationship among forests, food and nutrition launched today in New York at a side event of the United Nations Forum on Forests.

The new report released by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), the world's largest network of forest scientists, also underlines the need for the most vulnerable groups of society to have secure access to forest foods.

The benefits of forests and trees to nutrition are manifold: Tree foods are often rich in vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients and are associated with more diverse diets. Wild meat, fish, and insects are also important forest food sources. Insects are an especially cheap, abundant source of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Particularly in Southeast Asia, many forests and agroforests (tree-based farms) are managed by local communities specifically to enhance edible insect supply.

Forests are also essential for firewood and charcoal. In developing countries, 2.4 billion households use these renewable biofuels for cooking and heating. In India and Nepal, for example, even better-off rural households depend on woodfuels.

Trees offer a multitude of ecological services. For instance, they support bees and other pollinators, which are essential for crop production including on farmland. They also provide animal fodder that enables communities to produce meat and milk, and protect streams and watersheds as habitat for fish.

Forests help the poor to make a living

According to the report, close to one out of six persons directly depend on forests for their food and income. In the Sahel region, for example, trees contribute 80 percent on average to household incomes, especially through shea nut production. Evidence also shows that worldwide the lower the level of prosperity, the higher the share of forests in household incomes.