Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Project

It is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and coordinated  by Bioversity International with additional financial and technical support from international partners Crops for the Future, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health (A4NH).

The goals of the project are to:

•         establish a firm link between agrobiodiversity and nutrition by enhancing the evidence base and making information on the nutritional and health benefits of food sources available to the Agriculture, Environment and Health sectors in the four partner countries (Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey).

•         To foster biodiversity conservation and development actions in favour of human nutrition and wellbeing.

•         To enhance the development of policies and regulatory frameworks that support the mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use across sectors vital for nutrition, food security and health.

•         To enhance agrobiodiversity for improved nutrition and food security, through market, communication, cultural and nutrition interventions.

For more information see here or their project newsletter here.

You may also be interested in this study which presents the beginnings of a metric for linking agrobiodiversity (ie. diversity of cropping systems) with nutritional outcomes and also outlines an strategy for future research, with an overall objective to guide more balanced nutritional outcomes from agricultural systems.

The citation for the study is: Remans R, Flynn DFB, DeClerck F, Diru W, Fanzo J, et al. (2011) Assessing Nutritional Diversity of Cropping Systems in African Villages. PLoS ONE 6(6): e21235. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021235

And you can read it here (open access).