December 2013: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released the 2013 volume of Unasylva on the theme ‘Forests for Food Security and Nutrition.’ The volume features articles arising from the FAO-hosted first global conference to address the role of forests and trees outside forests, in food security and nutrition – the International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition. The volume’s articles stress the need to approach food security inter-sectorally and at the landscape scale. Some authors argue that replacing land-sharing with land-sparing risks the loss of valuable traditional knowledge, and could reduce the resilience of smallholders to change. Others call for an “ecosystem-aware” approach to food-security policy-making that aims not only to alleviate hunger in the short-term, but also to ensure ecosystems’ capacity to support food production despite shocks and stresses.

The volume also includes an article exploring the role of agroforestry in food security and nutrition. Another article suggests that empowering women in the forest sector can create significant development opportunities and improve food security and nutrition among rural people. Finally, the volume contains a summary statement and recommendations, issued by the organizers at the end of the Conference. [Publication: Unasylva No. 241: Vol. 64, 2013/2]