New Security Beat

Amy Ickowitz, Team Leader for Sustainable Landscapes & Livelihoods @CIFOR outlines preliminary results from a recent study on direct contributions of forests to diets in #Zambia

Survey results of the study showed that only 58% of women consumed any fruit in the week preceding the survey; just 11% had a fruit an average of at least once a day; For the 42% of women consuming any fruit, wild fruit was consumed more than 2x as frequently as domestic fruit

Wild fruits in #Zambia cannot go unnoticed. They comprise 68% of fruit consumed by women in 7 day period. Over a one-year period, on average, they contributed 25% of the recommended daily intake of fruits- Amy Ickowitz @CIFOR

Forests provide 1/3 of people's recommended intake of food. If we cut that down, where are people's food going to come from? - Amy Ickowitz @CIFOR

The share of the environmental burden of disease is disproportionately born by people in the developing world. @TaylorHRicketts @UVMVermont @GundInstitute explores the relationships between global change and human #health

One study @TaylorHRicketts @UVMVermont @GundInstitute highlights examined how watershed conditions affect downstream diarrheal disease among children. 800,000 kids in the study across 49 countries. Results show: upstream tree cover and human activity impact childhood diarrhea

Forests do impact household diet diversity - a study found an increase in diet diversity for those who live near forests vs. those who live farther away.

Key takeaways from @TaylorHRicketts @UVMVermont @GundInstitute: - Forests & #conservation affect children’s health - Signal strongest for most vulnerable kids (Rural & poor households depend more directly on #nature) - Nature investments can be #publichealth investments