by CALI, Colombia, November 05 (IPS) – It is often said that we are what we eat. However, our diets are also a reflection of the health of our food systems, the environment and agricultural biodiversity.
In the same way that our bodies need a range of nutrients to achieve optimal health, the environment also benefits from systems that produce a variety of foods, each of which makes different demands on and contributes to natural ecosystems natural ecosystems.
Unfortunately, global diets are failing to achieve a healthy balance of foods from both land and water systems. Although more than 3,700 aquatic species provide a wide range of nutritional benefits, consumption is limited to a handful of fish, seafood and other aquatic species. Likewise, just six crops account for more than 75 percent of total plant-derived energy intake.
Relying on the same few foods, whether crops, livestock or fish, not only limits the nutritional value provided, but also erodes natural resources, from soil health to water quality. This hampers efforts to tackle global malnutrition and increased pressure on the environment and farming systems.
After delegates gathered at the UN’s COP16 biodiversity talks to agree on the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, this is a critical time to promote diverse diets for improved health and nutrition, agricultural biodiversity and data-driven decision-making within food systems.
From a human development perspective, diverse diets are essential to ensure that people get enough nutrients to meet their nutritional needs. This means making full use of a wide variety of plant-based and animal foods from both land and water.
Inadequate diets are at the forefront of preventable deaths, contributing to 11 million deaths in 2017. At the same time, dietary diversity is linked to a reduced risk of mortality as well as diet-related illnesses, including diabetes and heart disease .
Many underutilized foods, including aquatic foods and especially small native fish species, seaweeds and bivalves such as clams, scallops and mussels, can provide a rich variety of readily available nutrients, while improve health outcomes.
For example, in Bangladesh, micronutrient deficiencies such as anemia pose significant public health challenges. To address this issue, the researchers established a community-based production of small fish chutney to supplement the diets of pregnant and lactating women. The results showed that adding small fish chutney to meals reduced anemia among these women by a third.
Integrating greater diversity across diets, including overlooked but nutritious aquatic foods, is critical to improving global nutrition and health.
At the same time, diverse diets can support the conservation of agricultural biodiversity and the maintenance of healthy ecosystems by creating demand for a wide variety of food types.
As a result of repeatedly growing genetically uniform crops, the world has lost 75 percent of plant genetic diversity over the past century. This not only affects the resilience of the food system but also increases crop vulnerability to pests, diseases and climate-induced disasters.
Global dependence on rice, wheat and maize for energy intake means that the world’s food supply is significantly limited when these crops are adversely affected by climate change such as drought or floods. These cereal crops also place the same increased demands on natural resources, which can affect soil and water quality and biodiversity. This ultimately leads to supply fragility and threatens global food and nutrition security.
Instead, food security goals can be better supported by using a range of foods that include native crops, such as sorghum, millet and yams, and the principles of agroecology. Initiatives such as the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS), supported by CGIAR, are harnessing the potential of indigenous and locally adapted crops to support agricultural biodiversity. For example, legumes can turn nitrogen in soils into ammonia and other compounds, which benefit non-legume crops grown alongside them.
Science and evidence can help governments, policy makers and other stakeholders in food systems identify gaps in agricultural biodiversity to promote diverse diets and food production, and support biodiversity strategies.
For example, tools such as the Periodic Table of Food and the Agro-biodiversity Index can help map food quality and improve existing knowledge on agricultural biodiversity by collecting relevant data to quantify the sustainability of global food systems.
These tools can inform national priorities to ensure healthy, diverse foods from healthy, diverse environments. They can also facilitate the tracking of global commitments to protect biodiversity, supporting the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Meanwhile, conservation of crop and animal genetic material in gene banks or biobanks is essential to protect beneficial traits for future varieties better adapted to provide essential nutrition and climate resilience.
Prioritizing diverse diets can have positive benefits for people and biodiversity, reducing reliance on foods that stress the environment and deliver limited nutritional value.
But this requires not only renewed commitments, but also effective actions, investment and goals to conserve the genetic resources of all species needed for healthy, diverse diets.
Now that the UN biodiversity talks have concluded, we call on parties to commit to integrating a nutrition-sensitive approach into the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to support global biodiversity, food and nutrition security and health .
IPS Bureau of the United Nations
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