International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO),
at a United Nations Forum on Forests in New York, called on countries with big
forest-dependent population to adopt national policies and land-use strategies
that support the planting of multi-functional trees to provide food, timber,
fuel wood, medicine and a host of environmental services that could access safe
nutritious food for all, NaijaAgroNet
reports.
The Union, NaijaAgroNet
gathered, estimates that some 805 million people – one in nine citizens of
Earth – are undernourished, primarily in Africa and Asia. At the same time,
between 1.2 and 1.5 billion people worldwide depend on forests for all or most
of their diet and livelihood.
Stepha Mcmullin, social scientist and member of the Union
report’s Authors, also concurred that forests and tree-based farming systems
such as agroforestry can complement agricultural production to ensure greater
food security and better nutrition for some of the world's most vulnerable
communities.
“If you're familiar with shade-grown coffee, then you have
an idea of what agroforestry is all about. By planting fruit trees and other
useful species, selectively weeding and otherwise managing the forests as
intensively as any farmer might tend their fields and rotate their crops;
people all over the world have created gardens that resemble natural forests in
many ways, including providing suitable habitat for a diverse array of flora
and fauna.” He said.
McMullin who, NaijaAgroNet
gathered, advocated that forests and tree-based systems also benefit people
indirectly, sited an instance in the Sahel region of Africa, noting that by
planting trees, poor farmers have turned millions of acres of what had become
semi-desert by the 1980s into more productive land, where trees now account for
80 per cent of average household incomes in the region, largely through
shea-nut production.
Coordinator of IUFRO’s Global Forest Expert Panels initiative,
Christoph Wildburger, told NaijaAgroNet
that tree-based farming can help prevent climate change calamities, which is
also a threat, not just to the productivity of agroforests but to conventional
agricultural operations, as well.
“Large-scale crop production is highly vulnerable to extreme
weather events, which may occur more frequently under climate change. Science
shows that tree-based farming can adapt far more better to such calamities. We
know that forest already play a key role in mitigating the effects of climate
change. It should also be made very clear that they also play a key role in
alleviating hunger and improving nutrition.” He said.
Ultimately, lack of community control over
forests and, of course, deforestation could limit the abilities of forests to
enhance food security. Forest management in most countries is fragmented across
different governmental agencies and administrative jurisdictions. Daniel Nsolibe /Ed, Ops.
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