Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!
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Transcript of Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!
Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!
Terry SunderlandNERD NIGHT!
Jakarta, 14th January 2015
What makes a nerd?
If you thought these were funny, you are also somewhat nerdy!
Ups and downs of a forestry researcher
THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests, biodiversity & agriculture Agriculture began around 12,000 years
ago Approx. 7,000 plant species and several
thousand animal species historically used for human nutrition and health
Since 1900, global trend towards diet simplification
Today, 12 plant crops and 14 animal species provide 98% of world’s food needs
Wheat, rice and maize: provide more than 50% of global calories
THINKING beyond the canopy
Effects of diet simplification
FeastFamine
More than 800 million people are under-nourished and 200 million children are under-weight
More than 1 billion people are classified as “hungry”
Yet 1 billion people are obese Greater incidence of Type II diabetes among
urban dwellers Vulnerability to catastrophic events: climate-
related, pests and diseases, market forces 40% of all food grown is wasted IN SHORT: OUR GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM IS
HOMOGENISED, INEFFICIENT AND BROKEN!!!
THINKING beyond the canopy
THINKING beyond the canopy
The future of food?
THINKING beyond the canopy
And here’s what happens when our food system is really broken
THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests: they’re also important One billion+ people rely on forest products
for nutrition and income in some way One fifth of rural income derived from the
environment Wild harvested meat provides 30-50% of
protein intake for many rural communities 75% of world’s population rely on
biodiversity for primary health care 60% of global food production comes from
diverse small-holder agricultural systems Long tradition of managing forests for food
THINKING beyond the canopy
So what do forests give us?
THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests and nutrition Recent research from Africa has
shown there is a strong relationship between tree cover and dietary diversity
That same relationship holds for Indonesia
But it is more complex given the “Indomie-isation” of rural societies
THINKING beyond the canopy
How did we evolve with forest foods and medicines?
Cassava
Your turn to try this one
THINKING beyond the canopy
One (really) cool example of a forest product I’ve worked with
Oh no, it’s happened
again
THINKING beyond the canopy
The world is changing... rapidly
A “typical person” “consumes” 2.1 ha/year of the Earth’s resources
Seven billion people consume more than 14.7 billion ha/year
Current global capacity is 11 billion ha/year = ecological deficit: We consume more than 1.3 “Earth’s” a year!!!
THINKING beyond the canopy
Indonesia is no exception
THINKING beyond the canopy
Climate change is going to happen in our lifetime!
We will all be experiencing novel climates by 2050Aged 47 in 2015 Aged 82 in 2050 (yikes!)
THINKING beyond the canopy
Be nice to the Canadians, the Russians, the Chinese and the folks from Northern Europe (especially the Brits) as they’re going to feed
the World in the future!
THINKING beyond the canopy
Challenges of future sustainable development
Population growth Gender inequity Climate change Food inequity Globalisation and
over-consumption Continued forest and
biodiversity loss
THINKING beyond the canopy
But it’s not all bad! (Honest!) New Sustainable Development Goals
post-2015 include specific inclusion of forests
New York Declarations on Forestry and Agriculture – 2014
Zero deforestation commitments by industry
“Landscape approaches” taking centre stage in current development dialogues
THINKING beyond the canopy
@TCHSunderland
Thus we need nerds like us!!!!