Food Tree Species: Nutritional Value, Livelihood Benefits, Threats and Conservation Aspects

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2019)

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Bioversity International, I-00057 Rome, Italy
Interests: forest ecology; forest management and restoration; forest conservation; forest foods and nutrition

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Guest Editor
Bioversity International, I-00057 Rome, Italy
Interests: political ecology; forest management and restoration; gender; local ecological knowledge(s); forest/agri-food value chains

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Guest Editor
Bioversity International, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Interests: agroecology; ethnobotany; agrobiodiversity; sustainable food systems; diet quality; nutrition security

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Guest Editor
Bioversity International, I-00057 Rome, Italy
Interests: agroecology; climate change resilience; sustainable food systems; neglected and underutilized species; traditional knowledge

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dietary risk factors constitute 6 of the 10 main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The top dietary risk factors are the low intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Poor diet quality contributes to stunting in children under five years of age, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight/obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases. Poor quality diets that lack diversity are a critical issue, particularly in the developing world, where diets often consist of starchy staples with a minimal addition of nutrient-rich foods, such as dairy, eggs, meat, fruit and vegetables.

There is growing evidence that forest foods (the edible parts of food tree species such as leaves, fruits, nuts, seeds, flowers, etc.) have the potential to increase the nutritional quality of rural diets and play a crucial role during periods of food shortage. They supply essential micronutrients to otherwise monotonous diets and some tree products are stored (dried, fermented, etc.) for later consumption, thereby securing a year-round supply of the much-needed nutrients. However, a considerable number of food tree species are underutilized and inadequately characterized. High quality data on the nutrient content of the fruits of many indigenous food tree species are still unavailable or unreliable.

Traditional knowledge on how to manage food tree species, harvest, store, prepare and consume forest foods is rapidly being lost due to increasing globalization and access to convenient, less diverse, processed foods, based on a narrow genetic base, usually high in calories and low in other essential nutrients. Despite increasing research efforts that illustrate the nutritional and livelihood benefits of many food tree species, there is a lack of cost effective policies and interventions targeting the promotion of trees for their contribution to dietary diversity, nutrition and health.

Food tree species have been used for generations and commonly have social and cultural importance. Knowledge regarding their identification, preparation and sustainable management is part of a system of gender-specific practices developed and refined over time. Understanding how food tree species contribute to livelihoods, particularly of marginalized and food insecure groups, and how tree tenure and governance evolve in different contexts, has crucial implications for decision-making with respect to local food production, human health and the management of natural resources. Examining successful cases of enhanced livelihoods through the contribution of food tree species offers interesting opportunities for upscaling.

The current global call to restore degraded and deforested lands offers significant prospects for mainstreaming a diverse set of food tree species in degraded landscapes, but there is a need to collect successful incipient experiences to be able to disseminate best practices on how to appropriately incorporate food tree species in forest restoration plans.

In contexts characterized by limited resources and pressure on forest ecosystems, food tree species are under threat due to overexploitation or habitat change. Safeguarding measures for the conservation and sustainable management of tree diversity should be based on understanding the spatial distribution of intraspecific diversity of these species, which is in many cases poorly known. Moreover, especially in the case of important commercial fruit tree species, safeguarding their wild relatives is crucial to securing adaptation to future conditions.

In this Special Issue, we invite contributions from experts across multiple disciplines, covering a spectrum of research experiences from different geographic contexts to explore the following aspects:

  • Food composition: characterization of nutritional properties of food tree species;
  • Food technology: traditional or innovative new recipes based on forest foods to improve dietary quality
  • Behaviour change communication: promotion of forest foods for better nutrition
  • Characterization of the intraspecific diversity of food tree species as a basis for supporting conservation
  • Analysis of the social, economic, and cultural importance of food tree species, particularly for marginalized groups;
  • Gendered knowledge and management of food trees along the farm–forest continuum
  • Threat analysis and sustainable harvest of forest foods
  • Integration of food tree species into restoration efforts: models and case studies

Dr. Barbara Vinceti
Dr. Marlène Elias
Dr. Céline Termote
Mrs. Gennifer Meldrum
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 2507 KiB  
Article
Nutrient and Bioactive Composition of Five Gabonese Forest Fruits and Their Potential Contribution to Dietary Reference Intakes of Children Aged 1–3 Years and Women Aged 19–60 Years
by Robert Fungo, John H. Muyonga, Judith Laure Ngondi, Christian Mikolo-Yobo, Donald Midoko Iponga, Alfred Ngoye, Erasmus Nchuaji Tang and Julius Chupezi Tieguhong
Forests 2019, 10(2), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020086 - 23 Jan 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4204
Abstract
Widely consumed forest fruits in Gabon were analysed for nutrient and bioactive compositions and their potential contributions to meeting the nutrient requirements of consumers. Edible pulps of Panda oleosa Pierre, Gambeya lacourtiana (De Wild.) Aubrév. & Pellegr. and Poga oleosa Pierre contained substantial [...] Read more.
Widely consumed forest fruits in Gabon were analysed for nutrient and bioactive compositions and their potential contributions to meeting the nutrient requirements of consumers. Edible pulps of Panda oleosa Pierre, Gambeya lacourtiana (De Wild.) Aubrév. & Pellegr. and Poga oleosa Pierre contained substantial amounts of bioactive compounds; flavonoids (13.5–22.8 mg/100 g), proanthocyanins (2.4–7.6 mg/100 g), polyphenols (49.6–77.3 mg/100 g) and vitamin C (6.7–97.7 mg/100 g). The highest content of β-carotene (76.6 µg/100 g) was registered in fruits of Pseudospondias longifolia Engl. The fruits of P. oleosa had the highest essential minerals Fe, Zn and Se. If a child aged 1 to 3 years consumed about 200 g or if a non-lactating and non-pregnant woman consumed 300 g of Panda oleosa, Afrostyrax lepidophyllus Mildbr., G. lacourtiana, P. longifolia and Poga oleosa, they could obtain substantial DRI ranging between 20–100% for energy, vitamins C and E, iron, magnesium, iron and zinc. Forest fruits can considerably contribute towards the human nutrient requirements. Based on the results of this study, forest foods should be considered in formulating policies governing food and nutrition security in Gabon. Full article
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