The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) calls for more attention from policy makers and development agencies to the role of forests and trees on farms as a direct source of food and cash income for more than a billion people.
Noting the nutritional value of several forest foods, the CPF recommends increased investment in support of sustainable forest management and the rehabilitation of degraded forest lands.
26 October 2011: The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) has issued a statement on the importance of forest foods and services for food and nutritional security in poor, forest-dependent communities.The CPF calls for more attention from policy makers and development agencies to the role of forests and trees on farms as a direct source of food and cash income for more than a billion people. Noting the nutritional value of several forest foods – particularly wild leaves, fruits, edible roots, and tubers – the CPF recommends increased investment in support of sustainable forest management and the rehabilitation of degraded forest lands.
The statement also highlights: the role of women in processing tree and forest products; the importance of agroforestry in increasing yields of smallholder farmers; and the utility of forest environmental services for agricultural productivity. [FAO Media Release]