Biodiversity and Nutrition
Barbara Burlingame, PhD
FAO
What is biodiversity?
• Ecosystem
• Wild, neglected and underutilized species
• Genetic diversity within species: sub-species, cultivars, varieties, breeds
What is nutrition?
• Nutrients
• Beneficial bio-active non-nutrients
• Matrices
• Dependent interactions
• Active and passive transports
• Bio-availability, bio-conversion,
bio-efficicacy...
The Commission requested FAO to further develop its work on biodiversity and nutrition, recognizing the importance of linking food biodiversity and the environment sector to human nutrition and healthy diets, and of the concept that nutrients in food and whole diets, as well as food, should be explicitly regarded as ecosystem services.
Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA)
Fourteenth Regular Session
April 15-19, 2013, Rome, Italy
Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture
Nutrition and Biodiversity
• COP Decision VII/32 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 2004)
• Noting the linkage between biodiversity, food and nutrition, and the need to enhance sustainable use of biodiversity to combat hunger and malnutrition...
• Requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with FAO and IPGRI...to undertake...a cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition to work together with relevant organizations, in order to strengthen existing initiatives on food and nutrition, enhance synergies and fully integrate biodiversity concerns into their work, with a view to the achievement of...relevant Millennium Development Goals.
• CGRFA 10th Regular Session (Rome, Italy, November 2004)
• ...requested the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the “Working Group”) to “provide guidance to FAO on how it could best support countries, on request, to generate, compile and disseminate cultivar1-specific nutrient composition data, as well as indicate the relative priority of obtaining cultivar-specific dietary consumption data, in order to demonstrate the role of biodiversity in nutrition and food security.
• ITWGPGR 3rd Session (Rome, Italy October 2005)
• 8 high priority actions
• 6 lower priority actions
• COP Decision VIII/23A (Curitiba, Brazil, March 2006)
• Adopts the framework for a cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition.
Extent of genetic uniformity in rice
Cultivar Differences in Nutrient Content
Traditional use and availability of aquatic biodiversity
in rice-based ecosystems
Cambodia China Laos
Fish 70 52 27
Crustaceans 6 2 5
Molluscs 1 4 8
Amphibians 2 4 10
Insects 2 3 16
Reptiles 8 - 7
Aquatic Plants 13 19 20
Total 102 84 93
Source: Balzer, Balzer, Pon, 2002; Luo, Xaypladeth
International Rice Commission 20th Session
The Commission recommended that:
• Existing biodiversity of rice varieties and their
nutritional composition need to be explored
before engaging in genetic modification.
• Nutrient content needs to be among the criteria
in cultivar promotion.
• Cultivar-specific nutrient analysis and data
dissemination should be systematically
undertaken. • .
FAO (2002). Report of the International Rice Commission 20th Session (23-26 July 2002,
Bangkok). FAO, Rome.
Bananas and vitamin A
<5 µg carotenes >8500 µg carotenes
Apples
Vitamin C (mg)
Quercetin (µg)
Anthocyanins (µg)
b-carotene (µg)
Apple, Royal Gala, raw
0.4 5460 1010 2
Apple, Renetta, raw 5.4 3400 nd nd
Apple, Red Delicious, raw
0.7 5860 2520 6
Apple, Morgenduft, raw
5.6 5430 3670 nd
Apple, Granny Smith, raw
2.7 4930 nd 10
Apple, Golden Delicious, raw
7.7 7140 nd 6
Apple, Fuji, raw 2.1 4770 400 4
Apple, Braeburn, raw
8.1 8320 520 nd
Data source: BioFoodComp2.0
values per 100 g fresh weight
Cactus pear
Fruit β-
carotene (µg)
Vitamin C (mg)
Epicatechin (µg)
Hesperidin (µg)
Isohamnetin (µg)
Cactus pear, green-skinned, ripe, peeled, raw
290 45.8 6950 2410 220
Cactus pear, yellow-skinned, ripe, peeled, raw
2370 43.7 980 nd nd
Cactus pear, red-skinned, ripe, peeled, raw
1460 81.5 5480 nd 380
Cactus pear, purple-skinned, ripe, peeled, raw
670 12.1 9350 1900 110
Data source: BioFoodComp2.0
values per 100 g fresh weight
Improving the evidence base
Collaboration with the FAO/ UNEP Sustainable
Food Systems Programme and the CIHEAM
Towards the Development of Guidelines for
Sustainable Diets
• FAO/CIHEAM discussion paper Towards the Development of Guidelines for Improving the Sustainability of Diets and Food Consumption Patterns in the Mediterranean Area. 9th Meeting of the CIHEAM Ministers of Agriculture, Malta, 2012
• CIHEAM/FAO, Feeding Knowledge
Project, White paper priority 5: Food consumption patterns, diet, environment, society, economy and health. Expo 2015 Milan
Conservation and Sustainable use of Agro-biodiversity to
Improve Human Nutrition
• National Information System on native agro-biodiversity, its nutritional properties and resilience to climate change
• Ensure support for in-situ conservation of agro-biodiversity linking high nutrient ecotypes to markets
• Mainstreaming conservation and sustainable use of agro-biodiversity for food security and nutrition into policy and regulatory frameworks
• Communication and capacity building
Challenges
BIODIVERSITY BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity and nutrition
• Dietary energy supply can be satisfied without diversity
• Micronutrient supply cannot be satisfied without diversity
Conclusions
Whole diets, foods, and nutrients for human nutrition are ecosystem services with inherent complexity;
Nutrient requirements cannot be satisfied without dietary diversity, including biodiversity;
Analyzing and documenting the nutritional value of existing food biodiversity, and conserving that biodiversity through sustainable use, is more important than many other investments in nutrition;
Sustainable solutions to the multiple problems of malnutrition cannot be found without the coordinated engagement of health, agriculture and environment sectors.