having your forests and eating them too: why trees are good for you!!

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Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!! Terry Sunderland NERD NIGHT! Jakarta, 14 th January 2015

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Page 1: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

Terry SunderlandNERD NIGHT!

Jakarta, 14th January 2015

Page 2: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

What makes a nerd?

If you thought these were funny, you are also somewhat nerdy!

Page 3: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

Ups and downs of a forestry researcher

Page 4: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Forests, biodiversity & agriculture Agriculture began around 12,000 years

ago Approx. 7,000 plant species and several

thousand animal species historically used for human nutrition and health

Since 1900, global trend towards diet simplification

Today, 12 plant crops and 14 animal species provide 98% of world’s food needs

Wheat, rice and maize: provide more than 50% of global calories

Page 5: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Effects of diet simplification

FeastFamine

More than 800 million people are under-nourished and 200 million children are under-weight

More than 1 billion people are classified as “hungry”

Yet 1 billion people are obese Greater incidence of Type II diabetes among

urban dwellers Vulnerability to catastrophic events: climate-

related, pests and diseases, market forces 40% of all food grown is wasted IN SHORT: OUR GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM IS

HOMOGENISED, INEFFICIENT AND BROKEN!!!

Page 6: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Page 7: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

The future of food?

Page 8: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

And here’s what happens when our food system is really broken

Page 9: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Forests: they’re also important One billion+ people rely on forest products

for nutrition and income in some way One fifth of rural income derived from the

environment Wild harvested meat provides 30-50% of

protein intake for many rural communities 75% of world’s population rely on

biodiversity for primary health care 60% of global food production comes from

diverse small-holder agricultural systems Long tradition of managing forests for food

Page 10: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

So what do forests give us?

Page 11: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Forests and nutrition Recent research from Africa has

shown there is a strong relationship between tree cover and dietary diversity

That same relationship holds for Indonesia

But it is more complex given the “Indomie-isation” of rural societies

Page 12: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

How did we evolve with forest foods and medicines?

Cassava

Your turn to try this one

Page 13: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

One (really) cool example of a forest product I’ve worked with

Oh no, it’s happened

again

Page 14: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

The world is changing... rapidly

A “typical person” “consumes” 2.1 ha/year of the Earth’s resources

Seven billion people consume more than 14.7 billion ha/year

Current global capacity is 11 billion ha/year = ecological deficit: We consume more than 1.3 “Earth’s” a year!!!

Page 15: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Indonesia is no exception

Page 16: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Climate change is going to happen in our lifetime!

We will all be experiencing novel climates by 2050Aged 47 in 2015 Aged 82 in 2050 (yikes!)

Page 17: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Be nice to the Canadians, the Russians, the Chinese and the folks from Northern Europe (especially the Brits) as they’re going to feed

the World in the future!

Page 18: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

Challenges of future sustainable development

Population growth Gender inequity Climate change Food inequity Globalisation and

over-consumption Continued forest and

biodiversity loss

Page 19: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

But it’s not all bad! (Honest!) New Sustainable Development Goals

post-2015 include specific inclusion of forests

New York Declarations on Forestry and Agriculture – 2014

Zero deforestation commitments by industry

“Landscape approaches” taking centre stage in current development dialogues

Page 20: Having your forests and eating them too: Why trees are good for you!!

THINKING beyond the canopy

[email protected]

@TCHSunderland

Thus we need nerds like us!!!!