Forests and trees play a crucial role in providing nutritious food, and more than 5 billion people worldwide rely on them to some extent for their livelihoods. Yet their contribution to food security and nutrition remains largely overlooked in national statistics and policy frameworks.
A new global report published on Tuesday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and developed jointly with the Landscape Alliance, highlights the importance of forests in reducing hunger and poverty and calls on countries to include them into agrifood system policies.
"By working together and fully integrating forests into national, regional and global strategies, we can build agrifood systems that are more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable. We must do so - because conserving and sustainably managing forests is fundamental to nourishing people, sustaining the planet and improving the well-being of present and future generations," FAO Director-General QU Dongyu wrote in the report's Foreword.
The report, titled Forests for food: Nourishing people, sustaining the planet, comes at a critical moment. According to the latest UN report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, around 645 million people experienced chronic hunger in 2025.
At the same time, forests worldwide continue to face challenges. Over the last decade, the world lost an average of 10.9 million hectares of forest each year. Deforestation and forest degradation reduce biodiversity, weaken ecosystem services and can ultimately undermine agricultural productivity and access to nutritious food.
Forests' key contributions
There are strong links between forest cover and dietary quality. For example, a study in Africa found that children living in areas with greater tree cover tend to have more diverse and nutritious diets.
Forests and trees support food security and nutrition (FSN) by providing fruits, nuts, tubers, mushrooms, edible insects and wild meat. More than 50,000 wild species are used for food, medicine and other purposes, including at least 10,000 species consumed directly as food. In some forest-dependent communities, forest foods can supply up to 80 percent of daily protein requirements.
Forest fruits are rich in minerals and vitamins, while seeds and nuts contribute calories, oil and protein to diets. Edible roots and tubers are sources of carbohydrates, and mushrooms provide important nutrients such as potassium, selenium and vitamins. Wild leaves are rich sources of protein and micronutrients, including vitamin A, calcium and iron, which are often lacking in the diets of nutritionally vulnerable communities.
Forests also contribute to health. More than 1 billion people worldwide rely on medicinal plants sourced from forests, including remedies for illnesses that can affect nutrient absorption and overall wellbeing.
Beyond food and health, forests provide fuel (around 1.8 billion people rely on woodfuel for cooking), income and employment, while supporting biodiversity, soil fertility, water resources and climate change mitigation.
Such benefits are complemented by forests' wider contributions to economic resilience and the ecosystem services that sustain communities, cities and productive landscapes: Forested watersheds provide freshwater to more than 85 percent of major cities and support agriculture, livestock production and fisheries through critical ecosystem services, including water regulation, soil protection, nutrient cycling, pollination, pest control and biodiversity conservation. In many regions, forests also generate up to 20 percent of rural household income and act as indispensable safety nets during periods of food insecurity and economic hardship.
The report highlights regional differences in the contribution of forest foods to FSN. In parts of Africa, some communities obtain up to 80 percent of their daily protein from wild meat. In the Amazon, fish account for 44 percent of total food consumed by weight, alongside wild meat, Brazil nuts and açaí berries.
Asia has the highest number of wild forest species used for food. In Europe, a survey covering 28 countries found that 90 percent of respondents consume at least one forest food each year, while more than one-third eat game meat annually. In North America, wild meat is used more for recreation than subsistence.
The report also reviews progress in implementing the Committee on World Food Security's 2017 Policy Recommendations on Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition through case studies from China, the Dominican Republic, Morocco, Türkiye and Uruguay.
Policy recommendations
Despite their importance, the contributions of forests and trees to food security and nutrition remain insufficiently reflected in both forest and agrifood system policies and planning. This is partly due to a lack of globally agreed definitions and methodologies for measuring forest foods and forest ecosystem services, as well as fragmented policy approaches.
The report presents 12 recommendations to fully harness the contribution of forests to FSN across policy, management, information and governance.
These include:
• Adopt integrated, context-specific policies and strengthen legal and policy frameworks;
• Diversify production systems and promote the sustainable management and use of forest foods;
• Increase public investment and mobilize diverse financing sources for sustainable agriculture and forest management;
• Strengthen forest-food data systems and invest in research, innovation and technology;
• Build institutional and human capacity and foster multisectoral partnerships among governments, civil society and the private sector.
FAO's work
Elevated food and energy costs, economic instability, climate impacts and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to affect the food security of millions of people worldwide. Meanwhile, the global population is projected to rise by nearly 1 billion people over the next 25 years.
Against this backdrop, forests have an increasingly important role to play in strengthening food security, improving nutrition and helping communities build resilience.
FAO combines forest data, technical expertise, policy guidance and country-level support to help governments strengthen the vital role of forests in food security and nutrition into all relevant policies and management practices. FAO also convenes Members and partners to promote coordinated action across sectors.
