Opinion: Nature’s supermarket and safety net – how forests feed the world
This year, the United Nations International Day of Forests (March 21st) will be celebrated with the theme of forests and food. The theme is highlighted in a video spot by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which the Finnish Forest Association helped produce, writes Kai Lintunen, Head of International Communications at the Finnish Forest Association.
The role of forests in food supply is often overlooked. It is very timely to highlight this. Today, our world is facing complex challenges, including conflicts, humanitarian emergencies, the impacts of the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic – causing economic shocks and downturns, and interruption of international supplies.
In the current situation in the world where aggression and war prevail in many places, forests serve as an emergency food security net. Be it a failed harvest or natural disasters, or a conflict that disrupts food supply chains, forests offer a lifeline as an alternative source of nutrition and livelihood.
Forests cover one third of the earth’s land area and hold around 80 percent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. Nearly one-third of the people globally depend on forest goods and services for their livelihoods, food security and nutrition. Forests contribute to food security and nutrition in various ways, through the provision of nutritious food, income, employment, energy, and ecosystem or nature services.
Providing fruits, seeds, roots, tubers, mushrooms, berries honey and protein-rich game, forests are nature’s supermarkets. They supply essential nutrients that would otherwise be out of reach. Forest ecosystems service agricultural, livestock and fishery production through water regulation, soil protection, nutrient circulation, pest control and pollination.
Open access to food in many European countries
Forests are close to many Europeans, not least Finns. People live on average about 700 metres from the closest forest. This makes sense, as the country’s land area is 75% covered in forests.
This means that everyone has an opinion on forests, and forest themes are discussed, sometimes quite intensely. Mushroom and berry picking are a part of everyday. These as well as various herbs are very important parts of the diet in Europe.
Despite the ease, the open access to forests in many countries, they are still underused. Only a small fraction of the potential is currently being picked, and the vast majority is being left in the forests. There is room for improvement.
Game and hunting play an important role in forest food in Europe. Game is a rich source of protein. Hunting fulfils a number of tasks, not least the management of wildlife and reducing damages caused by animals. Hunting represents also an enormous economic factor. In Europe, there are a about 7 million hunters who provide an economic output estimated at EUR 16 billion.
An exciting but largely unknown part of foodstuffs from forests, produced especially in Europe, are extracts from wood cellulose, which are used in toothpaste, ketchup and mustard because of their effects on the ‘flow characteristics’ of the product.
In other words, thanks to Carboxymethyl cellulose – CMC – ketchup and mustard flow evenly out of the bottle as it is squeezed. CMC also provides consistency and texture for various types of juices. In pharmaceuticals, such as tablets, CMC is used as a filler to bind the other ingredients together.
In recent years, various local foods, natural products and small-scale production have been on a rising trend worldwide, also in Europe, so things are developing positively.
It is very important that the forest sector joins forces in promoting different aspects of sustainable forest use.
Thanks to the production collaboration, the products of northern forests are also featured in the video. The Finnish forest, lingonberries and the crowned elk introduce the theme of the world’s forests and the food they provide.
The importance of sustainable forest management for the well-being and productivity of forests is also highlighted. The video has been distributed on international news channels to over 140 countries.
It’s crucial to use land, water and biomass efficiently and effectively to meet demand for food, materials and energy. The evolution of bioeconomy and the biotechnology industry and its application to agriculture, health, chemical or textile industries is a classic example of bioeconomic activity. Research, science and innovation are pushing the boundaries of what we can do with and from forests, as well as the multiple uses and benefits forests deliver.
Through communication we can change consumer behaviour. We need to change perceptions, increase and accelerate nature-based solutions to replace fossils. We need to turn these into appealing stories that are relevant and make sense to people in their everyday lives. Sir David Attenborough put it very nicely when he joined Instagram: he described “saving the planet is now a communications challenge”.