Resources

The page is for resources about the link between biodiversity, health, nutrition and livelihoods. We will post materials from our own research as well as from other sources.

Biodiversity and Nutrition

Bioversity International has an initiative on this subject. In its brochure it states “The reasons for malnutrition are complex, but a prime culprit is the simplification of diets. In the fast-growing cities of developing countries, people obtain most of their energy from refined carbohydrates (mainly wheat, rice and sugar), and processed oils and fats, all of which are now cheaper than they have ever been. Local and traditional foods are often more nutritious as part of a diverse diet but have been neglected and forgotten. There is a growing recognition that protein and calories are not enough, and that sufficient micronutrients are essential components of food security and an adequate diet.“

Nutritional Value of Foods

The FAO has a programme on Nutrition and Biodiversity in which it is compiling a data base on the nutritional composition of various foods. While the composition of various dairy products from different parts of the world is included, there is no information about the type of production system from which the product was obtained.

Indigenous Food Systems

Several initiatives are working on this angle

The Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty is running the Indigenous Foodsystem Network

Centre for Indigenous Peoples‘ Nutrition and Environment (CINE) based at McGill University, Canada

FAO also has produced a publication entitled INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’
FOOD SYSTEMS: the many dimensions of culture, diversity and environment for nutrition and health

Pasture raised meat

There is also copious literature on the health benefits of meat and milk from pasture raised animals http://eatwild.com/healthbenefits.htm.

An important popular writer on this subject is the American author Michael Pollan.

However, currently there seems to be no research into these questions in a non-western or developing country context. This is one of the gaps that this project is trying to fill.

Information about Biocultural Community Protocols

http://www.community-protocols.org/

http://www.bioculturalheritage.org/

Join us as we track down the hidden values of the livestock breeds kept by pastoralists and other livestock keepers – breeds that are truly special because they

walk for miles in harsh terrain to seek out scattered, spiky, fibrous plants that survive in areas where crops could never be grown.
take droughts and hunger in their stride and act as insurance
are social animals in the true sense – living in a herd, responding to the voice of their keepers, and defending their young against predators.
are part and parcel of their respective eco-systems and provide a host of environmental services
produce delicious and healthy food as well as a range of other organic products

These breeds are the consolidated result of hundreds or even thousands years of purposeful breeding and of natural selection. They epitomize oodles of traditional knowledge and selection criteria that are important to pastoralists, but about which no animal scientist has ever dreamt, such as the urge to forage, being social, and the guts to survive droughts and other calamities.

Unfortunately, this type of sturdy livestock is threatened by extinction as the world is being taken over by livestock mono-cultures: poultry produced by two or three companies globally, white hybrid pigs, and genetically closely related Holstein Friesian cows.

This website is about our endeavours to create incentives and policy frameworks towards the survival and better utilization of these ecologically important breeds – animals that are the foundation for a more sustainable and greener approach to livestock production!

The Ark of Livestock Biodiversity

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