BIODIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND NUTRITION : UPDATE OF ACTIVITIES

1. BIODIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND NUTRITION :UPDATE OF ACTIVITIES Ifeyironwa Francisca Smith, Pablo Eyzaguirre International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) Ifeyironwa Francisca Smith, Tim Johns, Pablo Eyzaguirre

2. Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development • “nutrition is an investment issue not a food consumption issue or a welfare issue” • “it is something that can drive economic growth” • “there is need to build commitment among government partners as well, as to not only invest in nutrition but invest in the right kinds of things for nutrition”

3. International Consultation, Cross-cutting Initiative on Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition, Brasilia 12-13 March 2005 • Co- Hosted by Brazilian Ministries of the Environment, Agrarian Development, and Health • Brazilian NGO and Civil Society Groups working with agrarian community livelihoods and biodiversity, Slow Food, • Nutrition, Agricultural, and Biodiversity Scientists from Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Malaysia, Canada • UNEP-CBD, FAO, IPGRI, IFAD, UNU, IUNS, Bilateral partners

4. MDGs and the Double Burden of Disease Related to Malnutrition and Environment • Simplification of Diets, and Poor Quality Diets • Simplification of Ecosystems • Loss or declining use of biodiversity components for sustainable livelihoods and household food security • Identify and use local sources for combating nutrition and health problems • Build on local capacities and empowerment of communities to manage food and nutrition resources available within their ecosystems and mediated by and supportive of their food cultures.

5. THE REASON WE ARE HERE…… • SCN’s vision, mandate, and principles include facilitating the integration of nutrition interventions into global and national initiatives, and the integration of nutrition into national and global development agendas. • Biodiversity provides additional resources and approaches to combat malnutrition, hunger and poverty. • The next steps are to build these linkages between nutrition, health, agriculture, and biodiversity.

6. Call for Action Biodiversity is essential for food security and nutrition and offers key options for sustainable livelihoods. Environmental integrity is critical for maintaining and building positive options for human well-being. Existing knowledge warrants immediate action to promote the sustainable use of biodiversity in food security and nutrition programmes, as a contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This would counteract the simplification of diets, agricultural systems and ecosystems, and the erosion of food cultures. Considering the difficulty in precisely identifying optimal diets, a diversity of foods from plants and animals remains the preferred choice for human health. Traditional food systems provide positive synergies between human and ecosystem health, and culture offers an essential context for mediating positive dietary choices. An interdisciplinary initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition, based on the ecosystem approach that makes the most of locally-available biodiversity and initiative to address nutrition problems, will assist countries and stakeholders in achieving the MDGS. Without urgent action that directly engages the environmental, agricultural and nutrition and health communities, biodiversity and the positive options offered by domesticated and wild biodiversity for addressing nutrient deficiencies and the emerging burden of non-communicable disease will be lost.

7. Proposed Actions • Substantiate and promote awareness of the links between biodiversity, dietary diversity, food and nutrition • Mainstream the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into agendas and programmes related to nutrition, agriculture, health and poverty reduction • Promote activities that contribute to improving food security and human nutrition through enhanced sustainable use of biodiversity

8. An Update of Activities Dietary Diversity: Linking traditional foods and Plant Genetic Resources to Rural And Urban Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

9. IPGRI’s Dietary Diversification Activities • Dietary diversification projects in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Senegal to determine level of use of local biodiversity and promote increased use • Targeted ethno-botanical surveys in Uganda & Tanzania to determine availability, consumption and uses of indigenous/traditional foods by communities • African leafy vegetables programme in peri-urban and urban Nairobi Kenya, that promotesthe productionand use of indigenous African leafy vegetables in diets, including the role of local markets & supermarkets in increasing access and availability of nutritious indigenous/traditional foods

10. Advocacy and Awareness Creation • Chennai Consultation on using Biodiversity and Neglected & Underutilized species to address the Millennium Development Goals in health and food security, April 2005. • The CORAF/WECARD Assembly that brought together representatives from National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) of 21 countries in West and Central Africa, May 2005. • International Conference on Health and Biodiversity (COHAB), August 2005. • International Union of Nutritional Sciences 18th International Congress of Nutrition, September 2005. • Regional Workshop on Developing African Leafy Vegetables for Improved Nutrition, December 2005.

11. Collaborations • With Harvest Plus in a Food Consumption Survey in the Soroti district of Uganda aimed at identifying local biodiversity and their dietary use in conjunction with the orange fleshed sweet potato • With FAO in a Food Composition Collaboration aimed at developing the capacity required to build the evidence base linking biodiversity with improved nutrition and health

12. Activities by FAO • At its October 2005 Session, the FAO’s Intergovernmental Working Group on Plant Genetic Resources for Food & Agriculture strongly encouraged countries to increase efforts at generating, compiling and disseminating cultivar specific nutrient composition data. • FAO’s editorial role in the publication of the Journal of Food Composition & Analysis is creating awareness of biodiversity for food and nutrition in the global food and nutrition community, and encourages the generation of evidence linking biodiversity, nutrition and health. Increasing attention is now being devoted to documenting the nutritional value of local and indigenous food plants

14. Invitation to other Organizations to contribute to the Initiative WHO, IFAD, WFP, UNICEF, UNU and other inter-governmental organizations are encouraged to include biodiversity-related considerations in their programmes and strategies including but not limited to: • The Global Plan of Action to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals (prepared through the Secretary-General’s Millennium Project) and in particular its action plan on hunger; • The FAO World Food Summit Plan of Action; • The WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health; and • The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development Similarly governments and other international and national institutions, IUNS, ICSU and other research and academic associations, civil society organizations and movements, including the Slow Food Movement, local community and indigenous peoples organizations, and the private sector are encouraged tocontribute to the initiative

15. Global Stakeholder Workshop on Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Rome, Italy, February 16-17, 2006 The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), organized a Global Stakeholder Workshop to discuss the implementation of the CBD’s Cross-cutting Initiative on Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition. These three institutions are partners in the initiative and this meeting was an important step in its implementation.

16. Workshop Participants • Professionals from national organizations engaged in policy and programmes addressing issues related to nutrition and the utilization of agricultural biodiversity: • Professionals in international organizations including the CGIAR contributing to food-based approaches to nutrition and food security: • Researchers contributing to food-based approaches to nutrition • Representatives of national and international development agencies, Foundations, and NGOs working in the area of food security, nutrition, and health.

17. Workshop Objectives General The general objective of the workshop was to develop elements of an impact-driven and global action plan to utilize agricultural biodiversity to improve the nutrition and health of the rural and urban poor. Specific • To take stock of accomplishments in this area up-to-date as well as related ongoing programmes. • To identify new partners and areas of collaboration. • To identify a set of specific and coherent actions to be carried out by partners to implement the initiative, particularly in the areas of research, policy, and creating public awareness, as well as to mobilize required funding.

18. Working Group Discussion Themes • Research & Capacity development required to establish the link between biodiversity, nutrition and health. • PolicyActions required to support the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity to improve Food Security, Nutrition and Health of the poor. • CreatingPublicAwareness of Biodiversity for Food, Nutrition and Health

19. Summary Recommendations for Research & Capacity Development • Design specific case studies to establish the links – biodiversity/dietary diversity/nutrition/health • Determine local biodiversity through ethno-botanical surveys, market surveys, etc. • Undertake Dietary surveys adapted to local situations to determine level of use of biodiversity and its impact on nutrition and health status • Undertake analysis of local foods to determine their composition (nutrients, phytochemicals etc.) • Build capacity to generate, analyze and disseminate badly needed information on: - Composition of indigenous and traditional foods. - Food consumption surveys. - Ethno-botanical surveys that identify local biodiversity. - Economic analysis of effects on health of loss of biodiversity and dietary diversity.

20. Summary Recommendations for Policy Actions • Mainstream biodiversity for nutrition into different existing initiatives • Promote the production and consumption of diverse local foods through market policies (e.g. removing disincentives in pricing, credit and subsidies) that ensure greater availability and low cost while also favoring returns to small producers • Draw lessons from successful and unsuccessful policies • Work to support policies that facilitate access to quality seed and genetic resources of crop varieties and local animal species and breeds that provide good nutrition to the poor in both urban and rural settings • Mainstream biodiversity for nutrition into regional and National Food Security Policies, National Plans of Action for Nutrition, and promote food-based dietary guidelines that include local diversity • Work to support school-based initiatives that promote biodiversity for food, nutrition and health

21. Summary Recommendations for Awareness Creation • Formulate effective campaigns to change behaviour and work with diverse agents of change to implement them. • Recruit opinion shapers and celebrity role models to assist in campaigns. • Work with multipliers such as civil society leaders and local suppliers of health information to promote diversity for well-being. • Boost pride in local and indigenous foods and diets in support of cultural identity.

22. THANK YOU