Sustainable forestry for food security and nutrition

While staple crops (such as grains) and cash crops (such as palm oil and sugar cane) are linked to forest clearing, those foods that are most commonly missing from low quality diets around the world (such as fruits and vegetables) are predominantly produced on smaller-scale farms, in heterogenous landscapes and are highly dependent on ecosystem services such as pollination (Ickowitz et al. 2019). We focus on understanding the relationship between forests, trees, and wild biodiversity to demonstrate the importance of forests for diet quality and nutrition.  With these efforts, our research can guide policymakers andh elp to advance the global acknowledgment that we cannot afford to continue down a path where food production is entirely separated from the issues of biodiversity conservation and land-use change.

Our group seeks to create synergies in efforts to achieve two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 2, "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture"; and SDG 15, "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss".  To reach such goals, Dr. Powell has been engaged with several United Nations (UN) bodies, including, but not limited to: 

2019: as Expert Scientific Panelist on Global Forest Targets - the Contribution of Forests to Food Security with UN Forum on Forests;
2017: as an Expert Scientific Panelist on the Contributions of Forests to SDG 2, "The evolving global nutrition situation: Why forests and trees matter" with UN Forum on Forests;
2015-2017: as a panel member on the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) on "Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition" with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

For more information

• Gitz, V, N Pingault, A Meybeck, A Ickowitz, S McMullin, Terry Sunderland, B Vinceti, B Powell, C Termote, R Jamnadass, I Dawson and B Stadlmayr. 2021. Contribution of forests and trees to food security and nutrition. FTA Brief #5, CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia. DOI: 10.17528/cifor/008006
• Dr. Bronwen Powell talk at UNFF 2017 starting at 1:20:00: https://webtv.un.org/search/6th-meeting-twelfth-session-of-the-united-n…
• Targets for how forests will contribute to the SDGs - a contribution from Dr.  Bronwen Powell: https://www.un.org/esa/forests/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Global-Forest…
• New brief targeting the UNFF 2021 (26-30 April - https://www.un.org/esa/forests/forum/index.html)
• https://www.cifor.org/knowledge/publication/8006/
• Ickowitz, A, B Powell, D Rowland, A Jones and T Sunderland. 2019. Agricultural intensification, dietary diversity, and markets in the global food security narrative. Global Food Security, 20: 9-16
• Powell, B, A Ickowitz, S McMullin, R Jamnadass, C Padoch, M Pinedo-Vasquez and T Sunderland. 2013. The role of forests, trees and wild biodiversity for improved nutrition-sensitivity of food and agriculture systems. Expert background paper for the International Conference on Nutrition 2, FAO, Rome, Italy.
• https://www.cifor.org/knowledge/publication/4913/