TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Nature’s groceries and safety net: Forests help feed the world better

We must urgently address the question of how we can ensure food security for all, while protecting the forests that are so fundamental to our agrifood systems.

Qu Dongyu (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, March 21, 2025 Published on Mar. 20, 2025 Published on 2025-03-20T15:54:35+07:00

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Nature’s groceries and safety net: Forests help feed the world better This aerial handout picture taken on Dec. 21, 2024, and released on Jan. 31, 2025 by Auriga Nusantara shows a general view of deforestation at an area on Kawei Island in Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua province. (Handout AFP/Auriga Nusantara)

O

ur forests play a vital role in feeding the world. From wild foods to fresh water, from shelter to energy, forests sustain billions of people and biodiversity.

Yet we continue to lose them at an alarming rate through deforestation and land degradation. Between 2015 and 2020, more than 10 million hectares of forest were lost each year, an area roughly the size of the Republic of Korea. Meanwhile, intensifying wildfires and pest outbreaks are further threatening these valuable ecosystems.

Studies have shown that a major underlying driver of deforestation is the need to meet the demands of a growing global population. As we mark International Day of Forests on March 21 with the theme “Forests and Foods” this year, we must urgently address the question of how we can ensure food security for all, while protecting the forests that are so fundamental to our agrifood systems.

The answer lies in embracing solutions that combine both agriculture and forests.

We can make landscapes more productive through sustainable intensification, integrated production systems and circular economies. By building on both innovation and traditional knowledge, we can limit the expansion of arable land, while producing the foods we need.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Action Against Desertification program has been working in Africa’s Sahel region to ensure that the traditional knowledge and interests of rural communities are at the heart of efforts to restore degraded lands.

Viewpoint

Every Thursday

Whether you're looking to broaden your horizons or stay informed on the latest developments, "Viewpoint" is the perfect source for anyone seeking to engage with the issues that matter most.

By registering, you agree with The Jakarta Post's

Thank You

for signing up our newsletter!

Please check your email for your newsletter subscription.

View More Newsletter

This has encouraged the selection and planting of many wild food species rich in micronutrients. As a result, not only have regreening and growth rates of plants improved, but food insecurity has also declined.

In Colombia, where indigenous peoples and local communities manage 53 percent of land and forests, a new community forest management model is being deployed to help halt deforestation and improve coordination between agriculture and forestry.

By establishing nurseries, agroforestry systems and restoration actions and promoting financial incentives and the use of timber and non-timber forest products, the new model has revitalized community forest enterprises and increased market access, improving the quality of life for many people in rural areas.

In Vanuatu, an innovative project is improving harvests in traditional water gardens by incorporating new technologies, practices and plant varieties for sustainable water and forest management in an area where the deterioration of forests had reduced water capacity. This has helped curb water waste and increase overall water availability, contributing to recharging water sources for taro, an important staple crop for local diets and food security for the country.

In Tunisia, a project jointly implemented by FAO together with partners has focused on reseeding degraded land with a native legume that livestock can graze on, while regenerating local shrubs and trees such as saltbush, carob, medic tree and cactus pear, which support livelihoods, while providing shade for crops and additional fodder. As a result, the cost of feeding livestock on the restored site has halved.

These examples show how forests, bushes and grasslands integration with new crops can enhance food production.

Forests provide habitat for pollinators and are home to most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, necessary both to increasing food production and improving sustainability.

Forests nourish soils, regulate temperature and offer sustenance and shade for livestock. They can act as natural barriers against wind for crops and deliver fresh water to more than 85 percent of the world’s major cities.

Forests are nature’s groceries, providing a direct source of vegetables, fruits, seeds, roots, tubers, mushrooms, honey, natural herbs and protein-rich wild meat for rural communities and functional foods in the urban areas. This is even more so during times of crisis, when forests serve as an emergency food security net.

Agroforestry, incorporating trees into farming, can improve ecosystems, increase crop resilience, restore degraded land and enhance food production and food diversity, as well as increasing farmer incomes.

Silvopastoral systems, which combine tree cultivation and restoration with livestock grazing and fodder cropping, are also important.

At the same time, more efforts must be made to restore more than 2 billion ha of land estimated to be degraded worldwide. The good news is that some 1.5 billion ha of degraded land are suitable for mosaic restoration, that is combining forests and trees with agriculture.

A further 1 billion ha of croplands on previous forestlands would benefit from strategic additions of trees and bushes to enrich both agricultural productivity and ecosystem services.

The path forward requires policy changes that reflect the interdependence of agriculture and forests. While many countries have begun integrating agroforestry into their national land use plans, we need a broader commitment to policies that view forests as essential to food security and food diversity.

This extends to private sector commitments to zero deforestation in agricultural value chains and ensuring that those commitments translate to measurable actions.

Finally, educating consumers on healthier diets and healthy life from sustainable agrifood systems and reducing food loss and waste are also key.

Forests are key to the transformation of global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

When forests themselves as a big part of agrifood systems are deemed indispensable to human well-being, then incentives to care for them will grow.

We need to stress forests as a big bridge to integrate implementation under the guidance of the “four betters”: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

Conserving and sustainably managing and using forests is not just an environmental imperative, it is a crucial strategy for food security and food diversity. Without this, meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), ending hunger and poverty and restoring ecosystems, becomes more elusive.

---

The writer is director-general of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Continue in the app

Get the best experience—faster access, exclusive features, and a seamless way to stay updated.