Food security
Forests-especially in tropical regions-provide a bounty of foods that require no cultivation, only careful harvest. A few of the many foods available from forests include fruits, mushrooms, the flowers and leaves of certain plants, and roots dug from the earth. In many developing nations in Africa and Central America, where there are big forests, these food sources contain a more nutritious, balanced diet than any other food source available. Moreover, they are abundant and sustainable.
Here are some examples of foods and medicines harvested from the world's forests:
- In the Peruvian Amazon, more than 80 percent of animal protein comes from "bushmeat," or animals hunted in the forest.
- In Botswana, the springhare provides meat equivalent to that from some 20,000 cows.
- In the United States, the bark of the western yew tree is harvested to provide the drug taxol, an anti-cancer drug.
Yew bark was once a waste product from logging!
- In Zimbabwe, people eat mushrooms as a meat substitute, which provides large amounts of protein and essential minerals.
- In Zaire, more than twenty tons of mushrooms are gathered from the forest every year.
State of the Forests >>
