Wild Foods, Biodiversity and Livelihood

With support from the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI), NTFP-EP Asia is leading an Expert Group on Wild foods, Biodiversity and Livelihood.

SIANI expert groups are working groups formed around the vision of ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and the promotion of sustainable agriculture (Sustainable Development Goal 2).

The Wild Foods, Biodiversity and Livelihood Network Expert Group is composed of multi-actor experts based in South and Southeast Asia and Sweden coming from the academe, civil society, communities, private sector and government. The group brings social and ecological sciences together in enriching understanding on the importance of forests, wild foods and biodiversity for livelihood and food security.

This network, composed of experts and dialogue partners, is strongly motivated to facilitate conversations on the subject of wild foods in relation to biodiversity, livelihoods and traditional food systems, including current realities and challenges faced by indigenous peoples and local communities who are at the forefront of forested landscapes.

The Expert Group aims to consolidate traditional ecological knowledge about wild foods in Asia, including traditional food systems, and link it with relevant policy arenas on food security, poverty reduction and sustainable management of forest and forest-farm ecosystem so that it can result to truly meaningful and impactful policies and actions reaching forest-dependent communities in Asia. Knowledge sharing on wild foods, rotational farming systems, forest-farm ecosystems, and resource management shall be facilitated towards developing a regional network for learning, dialogue and action in Asia.

Through field learning, action research, workshops and networking at both the national and regional level, and by leading an online campaign to raise awareness on the subject, the group hopes to expand awareness on the value of forests for food, especially wild foods, and the importance of traditional ecological knowledge and systems in food security and nutrition.

The Expert Group was officially formed in April 2020 and will be implementing various activities until June 2021.

To learn more about the Expert Group and be updated with its latest activities, please visit the SIANI website.