Born to eat wild: an integrated conservation approach to secure wild food plants for food security and nutrition

Overlooked in national reports and in conservation programs, wild food plants (WFPs) have been a vital component of food and nutrition security for centuries. Recently, several countries have reported on the widespread and regular consumption of WFPs, particularly by rural and indigenous communities but also in urban contexts. They are reported as critical for livelihood resilience and for providing essential micronutrients to people enduring food shortages or other emergency situations. However, threats derived from changes in land use and climate, overexploitation and urbanization are reducing the availability of these biological resources in the wild and contributing to the loss of traditional knowledge associated with their use. Meanwhile, few policy measures are in place explicitly targeting their conservation and sustainable use. This can be partially attributed to a lack of scientific evidence and awareness among policymakers and relevant stakeholders of the untapped potential of WFPs, accompanied by market and non‐market barriers limiting their use. This paper reviews recent efforts being undertaken in several countries to build evidence of the importance of WFPs, while providing examples of cross‐sectoral cooperation and multi‐stakeholder approaches that are contributing to advance their conservation and sustainable use. An integrated conservation approach is proposed contributing to secure their availability for future generations

Assessment of the nutritional value of selected wild food plants in Türkiye and their promotion for improved nutrition

Türkiye represents one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, containing over 11,000 species of plants, with an estimated 10% being edible. Wild food plants, especially in rural areas, are collected and eaten or sold in local markets, complementing people’s diets, and represent a source of additional income for foraging households. Yet, the use of wild food plants is declining, with both their dietary and cultural values being undermined. Wild food plants can be used as a healthy dietary alternative to imported and ultra-processed foods, particularly as the Turkish population increasingly suffers from diet-related diseases. Using a unique and innovative approach to mainstream biodiversity for food and nutrition, wild food plants from five different regions of Türkiye were analyzed to determine their nutrient composition, and to evaluate their contribution not only to diets and nutrition, but to promoting a more sustainable food system. Examples are presented of how the approach was put into practice and how action was taken to (i) strengthen the evidence of the nutritional value of wild food plants; (ii) use this knowledge to shape new policies and identify emerging markets for food biodiversity; and, (iii) improve awareness of consumers, using capacity building and farmer training, gastronomy, and cultural events

The potential of neglected and underutilized species for improving diets and nutrition

The paper highlights the novel and ingenious approaches Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey used to prioritize a rich diversity of NUS for healthier diets and improved nutrition, and how this knowledge was used to mainstream these plant species into production and consumption systems. The paper concludes with some perspectives on the way forward for NUS and the community working on them in meeting the challenges of malnutrition and environmental sustainability in the 2030 sustainable development context

The BFN mainstreaming toolkit. A roadmap to using neglected and underutilized species for food system change

This chapter describes the stepwise approach to biodiversity mainstreaming tested by Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey during the implementation of the GEF-supported Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition project. Using practical examples, it captures the fundamentals steps needed to integrate neglected and underutilised species into sectoral policies and practices, including how to facilitate and align activities to support achieving national targets linked to biodiversity conservation and food and nutrition security

General status of cucurbit genetic resources in Turkey

AbstractTurkey is very rich in cucurbit genetic resources due to its diverse geographicaland ecological situation. Turkey is one of the important diversity centers forcultivated cucurbits because of the adaptation to diverse ecological conditions asresult of natural selection and also the farmers selection in accordance with theirpreference.National collection of Cucurbitaceae species at National Gene Bank of Turkey(AARI) consists of 2223 accessions. Collecting activities have been systematicallyconducted since early 1960s. 25.7 % of this amount is melon, 20.5 % is Cucurbitaspp., 16.1 % is watermelon, 13.4 % is cucumber, 7.7 % is bottle gourd, 7.2 % issquash, 4.2 % is winter squash, 3.3 % is snake melon, 1.3 % is pumpkin, 0.3 % isother cucumbers, 0.2 % squirting cucumber and 0.1 % of bryony.Melon and watermelon genetic resources collections and their morphologicaland molecular characterization trials were done in Çukurova University andapproximately 400 melon and 355 watermelon accessions were collected. Squash andpumpkin studies were done in Ondokuz Mayıs and Ankara University and 128 wintersquash, 40 pumpkin populations and 20 snack seed squash were collected andcharacterized. Selected pumpkins also were characterized molecularly. Bottle gourdcharacterization trials were done in Mustafa Kemal University and 188 accessionswere characterized. Snake melon research activities were conducted at Ankara andÇukurova Universities and 62 accessions were characterized. The evaluation andbreeding programs of these genetic resources are ongoing

Molecular genetic diversity in the Turkish national melon collection and selection of a preliminary core set

Turkey is a secondary center of diversity for melon (Cucumis melo) and is home to a variety of regional morphotypes. This diversity is housed in a national germplasm repository with more than 500 accessions. Molecular genetic variability of 209 melon genotypes from 115 accessions of this collection was characterized using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). Ten AFLP primer combinations yielded 279 reproducible fragments, which were used for dendrogram and principal coordinate analyses. These analyses showed two major clusters of Turkish melons: one group contained highly similar genotypes (maximum Dice dissimilarity coefficient of 0.18), whereas the other group was genetically more diverse (maximum dissimilarity 0.41). Although average dissimilarity was low (0.13), a broad range of genetic diversity was observed in the collection. A marker allele richness strategy was used to select a core set of 20 genotypes representing the allelic diversity of the AFLP data. The core set had double the average diversity (0.26) of the entire set and represented the major morphotypes present in the collection. Molecular genetic diversity of the core set was further validated using simple sequence repeat marker data (116 polymorphic fragments), which confirmed that the selected core set retained high levels of molecular genetic diversity

Local solutions for sustainable food systems: The contribution of orphan crops and wild edible species

Calls for a global food system transformation and finding more sustainable ways of producing healthier, safe and nutritious food for all have spurred production approaches such as sustainable intensification and biofortification with limited consideration of the copious amounts of orphan crops, traditional varieties and wild edible species readily available in many countries, mostly in and around smallholder farmers’ fields. This paper explores the potential role of locally available; affordable and climate-resilient orphan crops, traditional varieties and wild edible species to support local food system transformation. Evidence from Brazil, Kenya, Guatemala, India, Mali, Sri Lanka and Turkey is used to showcase a three-pronged approach that aims to: (i) increase evidence of the nutritional value and biocultural importance of these foods, (ii) better link research to policy to ensure these foods are considered in national food and nutrition security strategies and actions, and (iii) improve consumer awareness of the desirability of these alternative foods so that they may more easily be incorporated in diets, food systems and markets. In the seven countries, this approach has brought about positive changes around increasing community dietary diversity and increasing market opportunities for smallholder growers, as well as increased attention to biodiversity conservation