FAO report highlights forests' crucial role in food security and nutrition

Countries are invited to place forests at the heart of food and nutrition policies

Forests and trees support food security and nutrition by providing fruits, nuts, tubers, mushrooms, edible insects and wild meat, with more than 50,000 wild species used for food, medicine and other purposes.

Rome – Forests and trees play a crucial role in providing nutritious food, and more than 5 billion people worldwide rely on them to some extent for their livelihoods. Yet their contribution to food security and nutrition remains largely overlooked in national statistics and policy frameworks.

A new global report published on Tuesday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and developed jointly with the Landscape Alliance, highlights the importance of forests in reducing hunger and poverty and calls on countries to include them into agrifood system policies.

“By working together and fully integrating forests into national, regional and global strategies, we can build agrifood systems that are more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable. We must do so – because conserving and sustainably managing forests is fundamental to nourishing people, sustaining the planet and improving the well-being of present and future generations,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu wrote in the report’s Foreword.

At the same time, forests worldwide continue to face challenges. Over the last decade, the world lost an average of 10.9 million hectares of forest each year. Deforestation and forest degradation reduce biodiversity, weaken ecosystem services and can ultimately undermine agricultural productivity and access to nutritious food.

There are strong links between forest cover and dietary quality. For example, a study in Africa found that children living in areas with greater tree cover tend to have more diverse and nutritious diets.