State of the Rainforest 2014

Food in the forest – on tropical forests and food security

range of purposes. 70 In varying degrees the forest provides them with food, fuel, building materials, fibres, medicines and fodder on a regular basis. Also for people affected by natural disasters, access to forests and forest resources may be the way to survive, and here reliance is greatest for those most heavily impacted and the poorest. 71 The World Bank 72 estimates that 90 % of the world’s poorest people depend on forest resources. Land conflicts are common in rainforest areas, and are often caused by commercial actors, including for production of agricultural products such as palm oil or soy. This agricultural production, whether used for human consumption, as biofuel or in other products, often directly undermines the food security of the local communities loosing their land. For people with minimal monetary income, forests are the source of well-being, the basis for their development. A recent comprehensive global study led by the CIFOR Poverty and Environment Network, 73 concludes that

Protecting tropical forests and their ecosystem services is essential for maintaining the productivity and sustainability of food production systems worldwide. Agricultural expansion is, however, the single most important factor behind the clearance of tropical forests and it is often argued that the continued clearance of forest land for agriculture is necessary to feed a growing world population. Integrating tropical forest – and biodiversity considerations with food security strategies will be crucial to ensure sustainable food security, especially if priority shall be given to the poorest parts of the world population. Poor people depend on forests Globally, some 750 million – 1 billion people live inside relatively dense forests and largely depend on them for their livelihood. 69 People living inside, or close to, forests use the forest for a wide

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014

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