Presented by Terry Sunderland at Society for Ethnobiology Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 9th May 2019

1. The right to food?
Protected areas, access and food security
Terry Sunderland
Society for Ethnobiology Conference
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
9th May 2019

2. Context
• Recent years have seen the
development of discourse on
the contributions of forests to
dietary diversity and nutrition
• Compelling and
comprehensive evidence-base
has emerged
• Policy environment has
recommended better access to
wild foods should be promoted
• But how does this sit with
conservation implementation,
or, more specifically, expansion
and management of protected
areas?

3. Forests and livelihoods: What do we know?
• One billion+ people rely on forest products
for consumption and income in some way
(Agrawal et al. 2013)
• Safety-net during times of food and income
insecurity (Wunder et al. 2014)
• Wild harvested meat and freshwater fish
provides 30-80% of protein intake for many
rural communities (Nasi et al. 2011;
McIntyre et al. 2016)
• 75% of world’s population rely on
biodiversity for primary health care (WHO,
2003)
• 40%-60% of global food production comes
from diverse smallholder agricultural
systems in complex landscapes (FAO 2011;
IFAD 2016)
• Long tradition of managing forests for food
– e.g. shifting cultivation (van Vliet et al.
2011)
• Forests sustaining agriculture through
ecosystem services provision (Reed et al.
2017)

5. “We show that Indigenous Peoples manage, or have tenure rights,
over at least 38 million km2. This represents over a quarter of the
world’s land surface and intersects with about 40% of all terrestrial
protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes”.

6. Source: Sunderland et al. 2013. Evidence-based conservation in the Lower Mekong.
Routledge.

7. Forests and food security

8. “There is a statistically significant positive relationship
between tree cover and dietary diversity; fruit and
vegetable consumption increases with tree cover until
a peak of 45% tree cover and then declines. Overall
our findings suggest that children in Africa who live in
areas with more tree cover have more diverse and
nutritious diets”. Ickowitz et al. 2014

9. "If indeed forests substantially contribute to dietary
quality in some areas as the results here imply,
forest loss may result in unforeseen, adverse
consequences on nutrition for local people."
Rowland et al. 2016

10. “This research adds to the growing body of evidence that
forests and forest-based ecosystems are associated with
dietary quality and nutrition…”

11. Policy recommendations:
• “Enhance the role of forests
in environmental processes
at all scales without
compromising the right to
adequate food of forest-
dependent people”
• “Recognize and respect land
and natural resource tenure
and use rights over forests
and trees for food security
and nutrition”

12. The right to food: Enshrined in global discourse
• 1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt includes right to food
one of the freedoms: “The freedom from want.”
• 1948 - Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right
to food as part of the right to an adequate standard of living:
• 1966 - The International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, reiterates the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights with regard to be free from hunger.
• 1974 - Adoption of the Universal Declaration on the Eradication
of Hunger and Malnutrition at the World Food Conference.
• 1996 - The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organises the
1996 World Food Summit in Rome, resulting in the Rome
Declaration on World Food Security.
• 2007 - UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
(UNDRIP)
• 2009 - Adoption of the Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, making the
right to food justiciable at the international level.

13. Conservation Initiative on Human Rights
”Common principles”
• Respect human rights
• Protect the environment
• Promote human rights within conservation
programmes
• Encourage good governance

15. Arbitrary arrest of
people exerting their
customary rights is a
daily occurrence, but
the age of social media
means such incidents
now have a global
resonance…..
This particular Tweet
went semi-viral.
Aside from the obvious,
what’s wrong with this
image???

16. "One of the problems is in the way the eco-guards
are being trained. They are not being taught to
distinguish between poachers and the Baka. When
an eco-guard comes across an indigenous person,
they assume he is a poacher. The eco-guard
searches them, confiscates their game, takes their
tools; sometimes they beat them. There are
concerns that Pygmies are abandoning their semi-
nomadic lifestyle "at alarming rates" because they
are afraid to enter the forest”.
John Nelson, Forest People’s Programme quoted by
Cultural Survival (2016)

17. “We must also seek to understand what the implications are for policy
and what the messages to policy makers should be. Primarily, it
suggests there is a need for more systems and multi-sectorial
approaches to address the contemporary concurrent challenges of
sustainable food systems that include forestry, conservation,
agriculture, food security and nutrition”. Powell et al., 2015

18. "The likelihood of being poor was reduced in households living near multiple-use PAs (IUCN
categories V and VI, ~1/3 of all PAs in our database), as compared to similar
households living further than 10 km from a PA. This suggests that multiple-use PAs lead to
improved environmental conditions experienced by nearby households and that their
accessibility—unlike categories I to IV PAs—then allows people to benefit from a greater
abundance of useful plants and animals via harvest and sales at markets, resulting in
income that can be spent on household assets. Last, tourism alone did not improve
children’s health outcomes; improvements were seen only in combination with proximity to
multiple-use PAs."

20. Moving forward?
• Protected areas are not (often) isolated, but part
of broader multi-functional landscapes
• If conservation is rooted solely in restricted
access PA’s, rights will continue to be
compromised, food security outcomes remain
uncertain
• Integrated approaches to sustainable land
management and economic development: de-
coupling sectorial approaches
• “Landscapes that work for biodiversity and
people” (Kremen & Merenlender. 2018. Science)

21. “The note provides an overview of existing guidance and guidelines which could
complement existing decisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity, including a
rationale for addressing the landscape perspective in land-use planning; multilateral
efforts to improve sustainable use of biodiversity at the landscape level”.

22. Pristine wilderness??

24. terry.sunderland@ubc.ca
@TCHSunderland
Contribute:
New journal: Frontiers in Forests and Global Change: Forests and People:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/forests-and-global-change/sections/people-and-
forests