Connecting Global Priorities Biodiversity and Human Health

whole diet of which it is a part and the ecosystems
it is derived from. Taking a whole diet approach
enables the use of different combinations of diverse
foods, and their many interactions, to improve
dietary quality and meet nutritional needs. It also
takes into account local knowledge – threatened
in many parts of the world (Sujarwo et al. 2014) –
and cultural acceptability and culinary traditions.
Biodiversity for human nutrition therefore
includes the diversity of plants, animals and
other organisms used in food systems, covering
the genetic resources within and between species,
and provided by ecosystems. In nutrition science,
however, the diversity of diets covers mostly the
inter-species biodiversity, and the intra-species
biodiversity is a still underexplored dimension
from a nutritional perspective.
Despite the increased recognition of the potential
of biodiversity for nutrition, national global food
supplies have become more homogeneous in
composition, being largely dependent on a few
global crops (Khoury et al. 2014).
Global malnutrition
Agricultural programmes and policies often focus
on increasing the production of a few staple crops,
and their success is measured in terms of the food
quantity or dietary energy supply. Ample quantity
does not necessarily ensure appropriate nutritional
quality, with staple crops unable to provide the
diversity and adequate amounts of nutrients to
meet human requirements, especially muchneeded
micronutrients. This has led to numerous
calls demanding new approaches to agriculture for
improved nutrition outcomes, often referred to
as “nutrition-sensitive agriculture” (Ag2Nut CoP,
2013; Turner et al, 2103; McDermott et al. 2015).
Notwithstanding the productivity successes
achieved in the agricultural sector in the past
several decades, it is becoming increasingly
clear that current methods and levels of food
production and consumption are not sustainable,
(FAO 2013b) and that finite natural resources and
genetic diversity are being corroded or lost in the
process. A reduction in biodiversity is a prime
example (Toledo and Burlingame 2006; Wahlqvist
and Specht 1998).
At the time of going to press the global figure of the number of people undernourished globally was estimated at 795 million (SOFI 2015) http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4646e.pdf
98 Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health