Chapter 7: Conclusions
2015
b vira
B Vira, 'Chapter 7: Conclusions', pp.153-158, 2015
Afficher plus [+] Moins [-]Close to one out of every six persons directly depends on forests, with food being one essential aspect of this dependence. An even greater number rely on the ecosystem services of forests â?? notably soil and water protection and pollination â?? specifically for their food and nutrition. Forests and tree-based systems are particularly critical for food security and nutrition for the poorest and the most vulnerable, including women. Forests and tree-based systems have played a major role throughout human history in supporting livelihoods as well as meeting the food security and nutritional needs of the global population. These systems, ranging from natural forests that are managed to optimise yields of wild foods and fodder, through shifting cultivation and a wide variety of agroforestry systems to single-species tree crop systems and orchards, remain important components of rural landscapes in most parts of the world.There is increasing evidence of the importance of forests and other tree-based systems for supporting food production and contributing to dietary diversity and quality, and addressing nutritional shortfalls as underscored in this report. Additional products essential to food production, such as fuel, fodder or green fertiliser, are also provided by trees. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and agroforestry tree products (AFTPs), including tree commodity crops within agroforestry systems, are important sources of revenue to local people and governments, which can can contribute to food supply. Tree-based incomes offer a considerably more diversified livelihood portfolio given the environmental and economic risks of relying on cash incomes from single commodity crops. More is known about the economic value of tree commodity crops than of other products, although recent initiatives have provided a clearer picture of the â??environmental incomeâ? from NTFPs.Forests and tree-based systems also provide valuable ecosystem services that are essential for staple crop production and that of a wider range of edible plants. For instance, many globally important crops require pollinators that are supported by forests and diverse tree-based cropping systems within landscape mosaics. These systems offer a number of advantages over permanent (crop) agriculture given the diversity of food products derived from them and their adaptability to a broader range of environmental conditions (e.g., soils, topography and climate) and changing socioeconomicconditions
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