The role of forests for food security
Although our results do not address the role of forest to food security
directly, there are some indirect connections that can be made based on
the established literature. Forest goods and services are considered an
important source of poverty alleviation as they provide vegetables,
bushmeat, and work as rangelands for husbandry and provide nutrient
cycling needed for shifting agriculture
(Baudron et
al., 2019). Our index of food security could not grasp such services
because this kind of data is hardly available on the scale of our
analyses. However, the fact that the highest values of food security
were registered in intermediate levels of forest cover suggest that a
combination of basic “grey” and enough “green” infrastructure offer
more opportunities for poverty alleviation and increase access to
natural goods and services that ultimately reduce food insecurity. Our
results indicate that improving socioeconomic conditions (i.e. reducing
poverty and inequality) can be more effective to increase food security
than stimulating food production through agricultural land expansion.
Positive associations between forest cover and several nutrition
indicators have been reported elsewhere in the literature
(Ickowitz et
al., 2014; Johnson et al., 2013; Powell et al., 2011)
whereas a significant inverted-U relationship between tree cover and
fruit and vegetable consumption was registered in a study that compiled
data from 21 African countries
(Ickowitz et
al., 2014). Forests can play an important role as a safety net for
low-income people, particularly by providing family income complement
(Miller & Hajjar,
2020). In rural Malawi, for example, forests play an important role for
poor rural farmers while coping with food shortages during climate
shocks, either by providing a direct source of food or through the
selling of forest goods
(Fisher et al.,
2010).