Agricultural and tree biodiversity for healthy diets

& healthy landscapes2nd International Congress on Hidden Hunger, Hohenheim, March 5, 2015

Dr. Stephan Weise, Deputy Director General, Research,

Bioversity International delivers scientific evidence,

management practices and policy options to use and

safeguard agricultural and tree biodiversity to attain

sustainable global food and nutrition security.

Who we are

Reaching planetary boundaries

Rockstrom et al., Sep 2009 Nature

Why agricultural & tree biodiversity?

BIODIVERSITY

AGRICULTURAL

BIODIVERSITY

• Source of genetic material vital for future

generations.

• Allows farmers to limit the spread of pests &

diseases.

• Provides more crop options to buffer against

extreme climactic events.

• Sustains soil health, food & habitat for

important pollinators and natural pest

predators.

• Maintains cultural identity and traditional

knowledge.

• Provides diverse nutrient content and dietary

diversity through many available species and

varieties within a species.

Challenge – land degradation

FAO 2011

Challenge - fewer crops contributing to overall food supply

What are potential solutions?

Photo: Floating market in Indonesia: Credit: Bioversity International/F. De La Cruz

• To improve diets (and nutrition outcomes) we need to make significant

changes in how we produce, process, transport, market and consume

foods.

• Requires a new way of understanding food systems.

• Need to understand what types of diets have lowest environmental impact

while addressing human nutrient needs.

• Dietary choices matter: diets – environment - health

Healthy diets, healthy landscapes

Moving towards sustainable diets for sustainable development

Tilman and Clark, Nov 2014 Nature

Multi-functionality of diversity

Monoculture Diversified cropping systems

Photo credit: University of British Colombia/Sean Smukler

Pollinators: Important for productivity and diets

Ellis et al 2015 Plos One

Econutrition approach

Declerck et al 2011 FNBPhoto: Sorghum , Ghana : Credit: Bioversity International/C. Zanzanaini

• Determinants of poor nutrition often rooted in poverty and inequity.

• Meeting nutrient needs of families while keeping costs to a minimum, improving resilience, and respecting cultural traditions remains a challenge.

• For many populations, local and traditional foods, including wild foods, can play an important role as a safety net during difficult periods or to complement diets with essential nutrients.

• However, for most of these species, little is known about their nutritional value, safety, availability, use, and consumption patterns and their subsequent impact on human health and nutrition.

Cost of Diets and Value Chain Approaches

Potential of wild foods to reduce the cost of a

nutritionally adequate diet

• Adding wild foods to modelled diets

resulted in a lower-cost diet, while

meeting recommended iron intakes

for women and children between 12

and 23 months of age.

• Even after integrating wild foods into

the model, targeted approaches are

needed to meet micronutrient

requirements for infants from 6 to 8

and from 9 to 11 months of age.

Termote et al 2014 FNB

Case study in Baringo

District, Eastern Kenya

• Integrating nutrition into ecosystem benefits.

• Thinking on temporal and spatial scales across landscapes.

• Providing multi-functional benefits across different systems:

diets, environment and health.

• Understanding synergies and trade-offs in achieving dietary

quality while ensuring enhanced conservation of water, soils,

forest and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.

• Combining local knowledge with good science to leverage

sustainable solutions

Summary: Healthy diets, Healthy Landscapes

www.bioversityinternational.org

Thank you