The future sustainability of agriculture. Presented by Terry Sunderland

1. Having your forests and eating them
too: Why trees are good for you!!
Terry Sunderland
NERD NIGHT!
Jakarta, 14th January 2015

2. What makes a nerd?
If you thought these were funny, you are also somewhat nerdy!

3. Ups and downs of a forestry researcher

4. THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests, biodiversity & agriculture
 Agriculture began around 12,000
years ago
 Approx. 7,000 plant species and
several thousand animal species
historically used for human nutrition
and health
 Since 1900, global trend towards
diet simplification
 Today, 12 plant crops and 14
animal species provide 98% of
world’s food needs
 Wheat, rice and maize: provide
more than 50% of global calories

5. THINKING beyond the canopy
Effects of diet simplification
FeastFamine
 More than 800 million people are under-
nourished and 200 million children are
under-weight
 More than 1 billion people are classified as
“hungry”
 Yet 1 billion people are obese
 Greater incidence of Type II diabetes among
urban dwellers
 Vulnerability to catastrophic events: climate-
related, pests and diseases, market forces
 40% of all food grown is wasted
 IN SHORT: OUR GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM
IS HOMOGENISED, INEFFICIENT AND
BROKEN!!!

6. THINKING beyond the canopy

7. THINKING beyond the canopy
The future of food?

8. THINKING beyond the canopy
And here’s what happens when our food
system is really broken

9. THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests: they’re also important
 One billion+ people rely on forest products
for nutrition and income in some way
 One fifth of rural income derived from the
environment
 Wild harvested meat provides 30-50% of
protein intake for many rural communities
 75% of world’s population rely on
biodiversity for primary health care
 60% of global food production comes from
diverse small-holder agricultural systems
 Long tradition of managing forests for food

10. THINKING beyond the canopy
So what do forests give us?

11. THINKING beyond the canopy
Forests and nutrition
 Recent research from Africa
has shown there is a strong
relationship between tree cover
and dietary diversity
 That same relationship holds
for Indonesia
 But it is more complex given
the “Indomie-isation” of rural
societies

12. THINKING beyond the canopy
How did we evolve with forest foods and
medicines?
Cassava
Your turn to
try this one

13. THINKING beyond the canopy
One (really) cool example of a forest
product I’ve worked with
Oh no, it’s
happened
again

14. THINKING beyond the canopy
The world is changing... rapidly
A “typical person”
“consumes” 2.1 ha/year of
the Earth’s resources
Seven billion people
consume more than
14.7 billion ha/year
Current global capacity is 11 billion ha/year = ecological
deficit: We consume more than 1.3 “Earth’s” a year!!!

15. THINKING beyond the canopy
Indonesia is no exception

16. THINKING beyond the canopy
Climate change is going to happen in
our lifetime!
We will all be experiencing novel climates by 2050
Aged 47 in 2015 Aged 82 in 2050 (yikes!)

17. THINKING beyond the canopy
Be nice to the Canadians, the Russians, the
Chinese and the folks from Northern Europe
(especially the Brits) as they’re going to feed
the World in the future!

18. THINKING beyond the canopy
Challenges of future sustainable
development
 Population growth
 Gender inequity
 Climate change
 Food inequity
 Globalisation and
over-consumption
 Continued forest and
biodiversity loss

19. THINKING beyond the canopy
But it’s not all bad! (Honest!)
 New Sustainable Development
Goals post-2015 include specific
inclusion of forests
 New York Declarations on Forestry
and Agriculture – 2014
 Zero deforestation commitments by
industry
 “Landscape approaches” taking
centre stage in current development
dialogues

20. THINKING beyond the canopy
www.cifor.org
t.sunderland@cgiar.org
@TCHSunderland
Thus we need nerds like us!!!!