NABARD ARDNABARD Grade AState AAO
In one line
The FAO, with the Landscape Alliance (CIFOR-ICRAF), published “Forests for Food: Nourishing People, Sustaining the Planet” — developed under the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) Joint Initiative.
Context
What It Is
- Synthesises global evidence on the links between forests and the four dimensions of Food Security and Nutrition — availability, access, utilisation and stability
- Addresses a systemic knowledge gap caused by:
- Absence of globally standardised definitions
- Unrecorded informal wild-food consumption
- Fragmented policy silos across agriculture, forestry and health
Key Findings
- Over 5 billion people depend to some extent on forests for livelihoods; forests generate up to 20 per cent of rural household income in several developing regions
- More than 50,000 wild species are used globally for food, energy, medicine and materials — including at least 10,000 consumed directly as human food
- In remote forest-dependent communities, wild forest foods supply up to 80 per cent of daily dietary protein and nearly half of total food mass by weight
- 1.8 billion people (23 per cent of the global population) relied primarily on woodfuel for cooking in 2022; 410 million depended on wood energy to boil and sterilise drinking water
- Forests host pollinators supporting 35 per cent of global crop production; forested watersheds supply freshwater to over 85 per cent of the world’s major cities
- Agricultural zones across 155 countries depend on forests in other countries for up to 40 per cent of annual rainfall, through atmospheric moisture recycling and evapotranspiration
- More than 1 billion people rely on forest-derived medicinal plants for primary healthcare
- 10.9 million hectares of forest were deforested annually between 2015 and 2025
Important Facts for Examsmost asked
- Report: “Forests for Food: Nourishing People, Sustaining the Planet” — by FAO with CIFOR-ICRAF, under the CPF Joint Initiative
- FAO — headquartered at Rome, founded 1945; also publishes SOFA, SOFI and the Global Forest Resources Assessment
- CIFOR-ICRAF — Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry
- Four dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilisation, stability
- 5 billion people depend on forests; up to 20 per cent of rural income
- 50,000+ wild species used; 10,000+ eaten directly
- 80 per cent of protein in remote forest communities from wild foods
- 1.8 billion rely on woodfuel for cooking; 410 million for boiling water
- Pollinators support 35 per cent of global crop production; forested watersheds supply 85 per cent of major cities
- 155 countries depend on foreign forests for up to 40 per cent of rainfall
- Deforestation: 10.9 million ha/year (2015–2025); net loss fell from 10.7 to 4.12 million ha annually
- Arapaima — the Amazon giant fish, recovered 30-fold through community management
- VGGT — FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure
- One Health — the integrated approach linking human, animal and environmental health
