The contribution of forests to sustainable diets

It is unclear how the current global food system will meet thegrowing demands of a population expected to reach 9 billionpeople by 2050. In the present context of climate change, ongoing loss of species and genetic diversity, soil degradation,increasing urbanization, social conflict and extreme poverty,there is an urgent need for collective action to address food and nutrition security at the global level (Hunter and Fanzo, 2013).Energy rich staple crops assure caloric adequacy and policymakers have thus made them a focus in the quest for globalfood security. However, they generally contain low amounts oflimiting nutrients, including micronutrients per unit of energy,and by themselves are not sufficient to address the problem of“hidden hunger” or micronutrient deficiency (Tontisirin et al .,2002; Stephenson et al .,2010). Increasing consumption ofmicronutrientdense foods (such as a diversity of fruit, pulses,vegetables and some animal source foods) is seen as sustainable way to improve nutrient quality (Tontisirin et al.,2002; Johns and Sthapit, 2004; Stephenson et al.,2010). In thiscontext, the challenges are to make food systems simultaneously productive, nutrition sensitive, culturallyacceptable and sustainable (Johns et al ., submitted) and toensure that consumers and producers have the necessaryinformation to make the best choices to meet their dietary andlife choices.

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