Forests for Human Health and Well-Being: Strengthening the Forest–Health–Nutrition Nexus

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Forests provide, directly or indirectly, important health benefits for all people – not only those whose lives are closely intertwined with forest ecosystems, but also people far from forests, including urban populations. Recognition of the importance of forests for food security and nutrition has significantly increased in recent years, but their role in human health has received less attention. Nutrition and health are intrinsically connected: Good nutrition cannot be achieved without good health and vice versa. Therefore, when addressing linkages with forests, it is essential to address health and nutrition at the same time. Yet forests also provide a wide range of benefits to human health and well-being beyond those generally associated with food security and nutrition. This publication examines the many linkages of forests and human health and offers recommendations for creating an enabling environment in which people can benefit from them. Designed for practitioners and policy-makers in a range of fields – from forestry to food security, from nutrition and health to land-use and urban planning – it is hoped that the paper will stimulate interest in expanding cross-sectoral collaboration to a new set of stakeholders, to unlock the full potential of forests’ contributions to greater human well-being.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• Release date: Feb 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9789251338445

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

An intergovernmental organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.Founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO provides a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The Organization publishes authoritative publications on agriculture, fisheries, forestry and nutrition.

Book preview

Required citation:

FAO. 2020. Forests for human health and well-being – Strengthening the forest–health–nutrition nexus. Forestry Working Paper No. 18. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1468en

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.

ISSN 2664-1062 [Print]

ISSN 2664-1070 [Online]

ISBN 978-92-5-133444-7

E-ISBN 978-92-5-133844-5 (EPUB)

©FAO, 2020

Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/legalcode).

Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted for non-commercial purposes, provided that the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the FAO logo is not permitted. If the work is adapted, then it must be licensed under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If a translation of this work is created, it must include the following disclaimer along with the required citation: This translation was not created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original [Language] edition shall be the authoritative edition.

Disputes arising under the licence that cannot be settled amicably will be resolved by mediation and arbitration as described in Article 8 of the licence except as otherwise provided herein. The applicable mediation rules will be the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules and any arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Third-party materials. Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, are responsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user.

Sales, rights and licensing. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [e-mail]. Requests for commercial use should be submitted via: www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request. Queries regarding rights and licensing should be submitted to: [e-mail].

Cover photos, clockwise from upper left:

Measuring changes in visitors’ health parameters in Helsinki Central Park, Finland

©Luke/Erkki Oksanen

Apothecary mixing traditional herbal medicine, Jiangsu Chinese Medical Hospital, Nanjing, China

©Kristoffer Trolle (CC BY 2.0)

Cycling in the forest, United States of America

©Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington/Leslie Kehmeier (CC BY 2.0)

Village women preparing forest foods, the Niger

©FAO/Luis Tato

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Acronyms

∎ 1. INTRODUCTION: THE FOREST, HUMAN HEALTH AND NUTRITION NEXUS

∎ 2. FOREST CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HEALTH OF PEOPLE LIVING IN OR NEAR FORESTS

Direct consumption of forest foods for good nutrition and health

Forest-based incomes supporting human nutrition and health

Medicines from the forest

Woodfuel: a source of health benefits as well as risks

Cultural, spiritual and mental health

Recommendations: how to promote good health of forest people

∎ 3. ROLE OF FORESTS IN THE HEALTH OF URBAN POPULATIONS AND INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES

Forest products and healthy diets

Forest pharmaceuticals

Mental, physiological and social health benefits associated with forests

Recommendations: how to take advantage of forests to promote health and nutrition in urban societies

∎ 4. HEALTH CONSEQUENCES WHEN FORESTS AND TRADITIONAL FOREST COMMUNITIES BECOME ALTERED

Health issues associated with a changing way of life for forest dwellers

Erosion of traditional knowledge

Transmissible diseases

Emerging zoonoses

Climate change effects on the forest–health nexus

∎ 5. POLICIES AND GOOD PRACTICES AT THE FOREST, HEALTH AND NUTRITION NEXUS

One Health

Harmonizing conservation with livelihoods and human health

Sustainable wildlife management

Valourization of traditional knowledge

∎ 6. WAYS FORWARD

Key recommendations

References

FOREWORD

Forests provide goods and services, employment and income to perhaps 2.5 billion people worldwide. Recognition of the importance of forests for food security and nutrition has significantly increased in recent years. Since the first International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition in 2013, FAO has made efforts to promote cross-sectoral collaboration to achieve sustainable forestry, agriculture and food security and nutrition simultaneously. Such efforts prompted the endorsement of policy recommendations on sustainable forestry for food security and nutrition at the forty-fourth session of the Committee on World Food Security in October 2017.

This publication goes one step forward by introducing health into the recommendations on the linkages between forests, nutrition and food security. Its aim is to expand cross-sectoral collaboration to a new set of stakeholders who are vital to unlocking the full potential of forests for contributing to greater human well-being. Nutrition and health are intrinsically connected: Good nutrition cannot be achieved without good health and vice versa. Yet forests also provide a wide range of benefits to human health and well-being beyond those generally addressed in connection with the food security and nutrition framework.

The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that the health and well-being of humans, animals and the environment are closely interlinked – the One Health concept, as described in this publication – and that changes are needed in the way humans engage with nature. Raising awareness that forests are essential for the well-being of all people, and creating an enabling environment in which people can benefit from forests, can help transform people’s interactions with these ecosystems, especially in a rapidly urbanizing world.

This publication offers an opportunity to delve into the forest–nutrition–health nexus in diverse contexts (specifically rural versus urban settings) and presents examples of policies, good practices and recommendations for each context. It concludes with a set of global recommendations, addressed to policy-makers, which we hope will be a source of inspiration to further support cross-sectoral approaches in developing policies, programmes and projects, particularly in forestry, food security, nutrition and health.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This publication was prepared by Sooyeon Laura Jin, FAO Forestry Division; Liisa Tyrväinen, Natural Resources Institute Finland; Andrea Perlis, FAO Forestry retiree; and Won Sop Shin, Department of Forest Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Republic of Korea, and Chair, Korea Forest Therapy Forum. Basundhara Bhattarai provided additional inputs. Special thanks go to Andrea Perlis, who also edited the publication.

The publication was reviewed in FAO by Andrew Taber and Mette Wilkie of the Forestry Division and Nancy Aburto, Lauren Micaela Nelson and Maria Antonia Tuazon of the Food and Nutrition Division. External reviewers include Julia Elizabeth Fa, Center for International Forestry Research, and Chang-Jae Lee, Korea Forest Welfare Institute. FAO Forestry retiree Dominique Reeb made valuable suggestions as well. We also thank Hubert Boulet, Arvydas Lebedys, Kristina Rodina and Sheila Wertz of the FAO Forestry Division and Sandra Ratiarison of the FAO Subregional Office for Central Africa for their input.

Coordination support was