Wild Foods - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 492

ecosystems” (Herrero et al. 2010, 824). In Italy, Vitalini et al. (2009) linked the con-
tinued use of wild food and plants with a sites' EU designation of “Site of Community
Interest.” The preservation of habitats bodes well for species conservation, but there
are also concerns that protected area status might exclude local people from access
and use.
However, the clear importance of wild foods implies potential conflict with two
streams of policy: the conservation of landscapes by restricting local use and habi-
tation, and the conversion of land to farmland to raise agricultural productivity.
Kamanga et al. (2009) comment on the possible implications of both these initia-
tives in Malawi, where some 21 percent of land is designated as protected, and there-
fore unavailable for use by local people. On the other hand, there is a trend across
Africa to raise agricultural productivity by converting landscapes to farmland,
which implies a potentially significant loss of availability of wild foods and other
provisioning services. There is, so far, a lack of proper evaluation on how these dif-
ferent policies interact to produce particular outcomes for the well-being of both
landscapes and the people who depend upon them (but see, for example, McElwee
2009 2010).
The extent to which habitats are converted to farmland and the intensification of
cultivation have clear implications for the continued availability of wild food spe-
cies. Encouragingly, it is also increasingly recognized that while agricultural produc-
tivity will need to rise, “sustainable intensification” is needed (Royal Society 2009;
Foresight, 2011). There is also recognition of the importance of smallholders to cur-
rent and future food security, especially for the world's poor (Herrero et al 2010).
The vulnerability of small crop-livestock systems and their centrality to food security
means that more attention must be paid to the wild species that farmers in these sys-
tems are already using as staples, supplements, and famine foods. In environments
where LEK is being lost, it is important that it be recorded. Local communities might
themselves desire to preserve wild food species through, for example, the establish-
ment of community enterprises based on wild food resources, as in Nepal (Shrestha
and Dhillon 2006), or through strengthening traditional community sanctions
against overuse and enlisting the support of state law, as in northeastern Thailand
(Price 1997).
Conclusions
Wild food species form a significant portion of the total food basket for households from
agricultural, hunter, gatherer, and forager systems. However, the focus on the contribu-
tion of cultivated species to food security has resulted in the routine undervaluation of
wild food species. The continued contribution of wild species to food and nutritional
security is threatened by some of the very processes that seek to increase agricultural
production and enhance economic development.