This brief is a product of an ongoing collaboration between FAO, People and Plants International, and the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), It reviews literature on the opportunities and challenges surrounding forest food and traditional food systems, focusing on three interrelated themes:

• Nutrition, diversity and health;
• Sustainable and adaptive management systems; and
• Equitable and sustainable value chains.

The review includes a collection of case studies on different forest and wild foods, and agrifood systems that integrate forest foods and wild species. The case studies include information on species use, markets and management practices, and threats to sustainability and equity.

Key Messages:

• Local and indigenous forest food systems are hotspots for genetic, species, ecosystem, as well as dietary diversity. Researching and conserving wild relatives of crops and traditional foods, and the agrifood systems of which they are a part, is critical for the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable food production, and improving food security and nutrition.
• More than five billion people around the world depend upon forests and non-timber forest products for food, medicine and livelihoods. This includes within both the Global South and Global North.
• Forests and wild-harvested food species are an important complement to commodity agriculture, and a critical part of smallholder food systems. However, in many regions they are under threat due to habitat destruction, land use change, pollution, overexploitation, climate change, population growth and urbanization.
• Conservation and sustainable use of forests, trees and natural ecosystems – which harbour countless medicinal, food, cultural and other useful species – are crucial to achieving global biodiversity and nutrition goals, including those of the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals. They are also among the most significant climate change mitigation strategies proposed in global policy today, including within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• Policymakers often lack information on the importance and role of forest foods and traditional food systems because data collection is non-existent or poor. This in turn hampers the effectiveness of agrifood system policy, and to date has made the many environmental, health and livelihood benefits of forest foods and traditional food systems largely invisible

Recommendations and potential programming actions:

Diversity, nutrition and health: Promote awareness of the importance of forest foods and biodiversity for nutrition and health, improve the evidence base on the nutritional value of forest foods, and assess the impacts of commercialization on household food security and nutrition.

Sustainable and adaptive management systems: Merge local and scientific knowledge to guide land-use planning, intensify monitoring of Non-wood forest products (NWFPs), and explore the ecological and sustainability implications of forest food harvests.

Equitable and sustainable value chains: Build capacity in government, producer, and other communities to enable sustainable harvesting, trade, management, and processing of wild and forest foods, and provide training on adding value to forest foods.

Enabling institutional environment: Enhance linkages between agriculture, forestry, and health sectors, develop mechanisms for multisectoral dialogues, and mainstream biodiversity into nutrition policies and programmes.

Data and knowledge: Explore and document traditional uses of NWFPs and forest foods, institutionalize interministerial collaboration on data collection, and integrate NWFPs into existing dietary intake surveys and national forest inventories.