Food for thought: The underutilized potential of tropical tree‐sourced foods for 21st century sustainable food systems
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Date
2020-12
Publication Type
Journal Article
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Abstract
1. The global food system is causing large-scale environmental degradation and is
a major contributor to climate change. Its low diversity and failure to produce
enough fruits and vegetables is contributing to a global health crisis.
2. The extraordinary diversity of tropical tree species is increasingly recognized to be
vital to planetary health and especially important for supporting climate change
mitigation. However, they are poorly integrated into food systems. Tropical tree
diversity offers the potential for sustainable production of many foods, providing
livelihood benefits and multiple ecosystem services including improved human
nutrition.
3. First, we present an overview of these environmental, nutritional and livelihood
benefits and show that tree-sourced foods provide important contributions to
critical fruit and micronutrient (vitamin A and C) intake in rural populations based
on data from sites in seven countries.
4. Then, we discuss several risks and limitations that must be taken into account
when scaling-up tropical tree-based food production, including the importance
of production system diversity and risks associated with supply to the global
markets.
5. We conclude by discussing several interventions addressing technical, financial,
political and consumer behaviour barriers, with potential to increase the consumption and production of tropical tree-sourced foods, to catalyse a transition
towards more sustainable global food systems.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
2 (S 4)
Pages / Article No.
1006 - 1020
Publisher
Wiley
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Organisational unit
03723 - Ghazoul, Jaboury / Ghazoul, Jaboury
02722 - Institut für Terrestrische Oekosysteme / Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems