To Turn to Forest for Food

Confronted by the threats of the rise of population， food shortage and famishment， more and more experts and scholars begin to transfer their focus to forest. The 6th May， 2015， "Forests， Trees and Landscapes for Food Security and Nutrition- A Global Assessment Report" （hereinafter referred to as "The Global Assessment Report"） jointly written by more than 60 famous scientists was announced in UN headquarters.

Bhaskar Vira， Chairman of Global Forest Expert Board of Forest and Food Safety and Editor of "The Global Assessment Report"， affirmed the key role of forest played in guarantee food safety. Alexander Buck， Executive Director of International Union of Forest Research Organization of stressed that while the limit of raising the production of the agriculture becomes more obvious， forest and trees are going to be advantageous to ensure food safety.

Global famishment status quo

In 1993， South African photographer Kevin Carter went photographing in starving Sudan. Next year， he was awarded Pulitzer Prize for one of the pictures taken in Sudan， in the middle of which a starving toddler is struggling to reach a feeding center when a hooded vulture landed nearby. Kevin Carter drove away the vulture after taking this picture， but the little girl's predicament as a result of hunger disturbed him a lot.

The picture is so impressive that it triggers intensive anger and sympathy. Apart from the criticism to Kevin Carter for his "cruelty" by those who are unaware of the truth， more condemnation is about the brutal famine. Two months later winning the Prize， Kevin Carter committed suicide. A portion of his suicide note reads "the pain of life overrides the joy".

Invisible hunger agitates developing countries

20 years later， lots of corners of the world are still large numbers of famine refugees. The pain of life brought by hunger does not vanish.

According to the Global Hunger Index （GHI）， co-announced by IFPRI， Welthungerhilife and Concern Worldwide， 2 billion persons are suffering the threat of invisible hunger.

The so-called invisible hunger is characterized， as what we can see from many news reports， big belly， thin neck， small shoulder， gigantic skull， only skin and bone， starving face， all of which are the manifestation of malnutrition， especially when the intake or absorption of vitamins and minerals （like zinc， iron and iodine） is too little to keep fit.

All of the hungry people in these regions were wondering "what is it like being full".

Three factors bringing starvation and malnutrition

"The shame that moms watch their children sleep hungrily is still on each night"， UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dwelt on the issue of global hunger at the UN Millennium Development Goals high level meetings in 2010. UNFAO Director-General Diouf added that hunger and malnutrition are still the world's largest tragedy and scandal.

The interaction of climate change， high price for food and the population problem is the main reason of this tragedy and scandal.

Those anxious eyes can always be impressive.

The bitterness brought by starvation is engraved on the skin and in the mind of those malnutritive children and adults. However， facing starvation， they become tough and firm. For fighting against starvation， they need to be tough and firm. Surly， anti-hunger should be a global action， just like the theme of the World Food Day 5 years ago said， "United against Hunger".

Forest’s potential in eliminating hunger

The forest brings hope to anti-hunger action.

The Global Assessment Report points out that forests and trees， especially at the time of crop failure and vulnerability， can provide broadly supportive ecological services and better control the choice of food consumption. "Forests around the world can serve as the potential resources to help improve the nutritional status of those people facing hunger threat and ensure that they can live on."

The report further shows that extreme weather caused by climate change makes large scale food production vulnerable， while forests and trees can serve as the complement of agricultural production， and contribute to enhance local people's income especially in world's fragile regions. "Forest can mitigate the impact of climate change， and also play a strong role in reducing poverty." A delightful figure in the report is that "one sixth of the world population directly or indirectly relies on forest as their food and income resource. Although forest is not the panacea of eliminating hunger across the world， it can complement helpfully through the main channel of agricultural production."

To Bhaskar Vira， "food out of forests usually can provide a safety net in times of food shortage." For example， trees can provide all kinds of healthy food， including fruit， green vegetables， nuts， seeds and edible oil condensed out of seeds. All of them are diversified enough to be able to fill the seasonal gap of food and nutrition. In addition， the ecological system of trees is an income source， supporting community people to buy the daily necessities and to live on.

"Those who ultimately control forests， will have important impact on food safety and nutrition"， the Global Assessment Report stressed.

Forest advantage is not distinct

Although they have irreplaceable impact on food safety strategy and nutrition equilibrium， advantages of forest and trees are not so distinct. As for the concrete manifestation， on the one hand， forest's advantage in ensuring food safety has not been fully known to the public， on the other hand， the destruction to forest and trees in recent years has intensified.

"Forest and trees are just to be cut down being used to light a fire or being sold. Does eliminating hunger mean eating bark of trees"， Mr Zhang puzzled. "Does improving nutrition mean let people eat tree leaves？ We can eat fruit， but cannot have it three meals a day." Ms Li said in the interview. In the random interview， most people doubted the concept that forest can provide food and balanced diet.

Forest degradation was mentioned by many interviewees. Can the forest contaminated by acid rains provide safe and reliable food？ How can the forest full of plastic pollution， solid wastes and sewage produce nutritious food？ In fact， the problem of forest degradation has occurred in many parts of the world. Such as in western and central Europe and central Asia， industrial pollution has caused more than 60% of national forests degrade or severely degrade.