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Food for thought: The underutilized potential of tropical tree‐sourced foods for 21st century sustainable food systems

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Title Food for thought: The underutilized potential of tropical tree‐sourced foods for 21st century sustainable food systems
 
Creator Jansen, M.
Guariguata, M.R.
Raneri, J.E.
Ickowitz, A.
Chiriboga-Arroyo, Fidel
Quaedvlieg, J.
Kettle, Christopher J.
 
Subject food systems
nutrition
biodiversity
 
Description The global food system is causing large‐scale environmental degradation and is a major contributor to climate change. Its low diversity and failure to produce enough fruits and vegetables is contributing to a global health crisis. The extraordinary diversity of tropical tree species is increasingly recognized to be vital to planetary health and especially important for supporting climate change mitigation. However, they are poorly integrated into food systems. Tropical tree diversity offers the potential for sustainable production of many foods, providing livelihood benefits and multiple ecosystem services including improved human nutrition. First, we present an overview of these environmental, nutritional and livelihood benefits and show that tree‐sourced foods provide important contributions to critical fruit and micronutrient (vitamin A and C) intake in rural populations based on data from sites in seven countries. Then, we discuss several risks and limitations that must be taken into account when scaling‐up tropical tree‐based food production, including the importance of production system diversity and risks associated with supply to the global markets. We conclude by discussing several interventions addressing technical, financial, political and consumer behaviour barriers, with potential to increase the consumption and production of tropical tree‐sourced foods, to catalyse a transition towards more sustainable global food systems.The global food system is causing large‐scale environmental degradation and is a major contributor to climate change. Its low diversity and failure to produce enough fruits and vegetables is contributing to a global health crisis.The extraordinary diversity of tropical tree species is increasingly recognized to be vital to planetary health and especially important for supporting climate change mitigation. However, they are poorly integrated into food systems. Tropical tree diversity offers the potential for sustainable production of many foods, providing livelihood benefits and multiple ecosystem services including improved human nutrition.First, we present an overview of these environmental, nutritional and livelihood benefits and show that tree‐sourced foods provide important contributions to critical fruit and micronutrient (vitamin A and C) intake in rural populations based on data from sites in seven countries.Then, we discuss several risks and limitations that must be taken into account when scaling‐up tropical tree‐based food production, including the importance of production system diversity and risks associated with supply to the global markets.We conclude by discussing several interventions addressing technical, financial, political and consumer behaviour barriers, with potential to increase the consumption and production of tropical tree‐sourced foods, to catalyse a transition towards more sustainable global food systems.A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
 
Date 2020-12
2021-03-08T08:35:18Z
2021-03-08T08:35:18Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Jansen, M, Guariguata, M.R., Raneri, J.E., Ickowitz, A., Chiriboga‐Arroyo, F., Quaedvlieg, J., Kettle, C.J. 2020. Food for thought: The underutilized potential of tropical tree‐sourced foods for 21st century sustainable food systems. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10159
2575-8314
2575-8314
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112503
https://www.cifor.org/library/7819
https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10159
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Publisher Wiley