Integration von Ernährungs- und Gesundheitsaspekten in Agroforstprojekte der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit in Subsahara-Afrika: eine Machbarkeitsanalyse
Projektdurchführung
Potsdam Institut für Klimafolgenforschung
Telegrafenberg A 31
14473 Potsdam
Zielsetzung
Agroforestry is a sustainable agroecological production method that incorporates trees with agricultural crops and/or livestock. Research over the past decades has shown that agroforestry can have many positive environmental and economic impacts, as well as contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation of farming systems. Nutrition and health aspects of agroforestry programs, however, are less often researched or included in project plans. Potential benefits for human nutrition and health range from increased access to nutrient-rich tree foods such as fruits and nuts; increased income through the sale of fresh and processed tree products; increased resilience of farming households through diversification of production and improved overall agricultural production, among others. However, to date, no systematic review is available that specifically focuses on the direct contribution of agroforestry to human nutrition and health. Despite these potential benefits, rigorous empirical evidence on the positive impact of trees in agroforestry systems on human nutrition and health is still lacking to put policies into practice, which can be highlighted as a critical research gap. The goal of the Nu-Tree project was to study the existing evidence on connections between agroforestry and human nutrition and health and to create awareness of those links with key stakeholders in order to support the implementation of nutrition and health aspects in future agroforestry programs and the evaluation of their outcomes. The regional focus of the Nu-Tree project was on sub-Saharan Africa, particularly on Eastern Africa. The project team carried out its activities in an inter- and transdisciplinary way, cooperating with local, regional, and global stakeholders representing different sectors and different disciplines.
Arbeitsschritte
The Nu-Tree project started on 1 April 2022 and ended on 31 August 2024. The following methods were used for the different work steps.
1. Literature Review
The primary objective of the systematic literature review was to assess the existing evidence on the direct links between woody plants in agroforestry systems, human nutrition and health in past and ongoing agroforestry projects. To achieve this, scientific literature was examined to find instances where the direct impacts of woody plants in agroforestry systems on human health and/or nutrition were quantified with qualitative or quantitative data. The predefined six direct impacts of woody plants in agroforestry systems were, nutrition (e.g., tree fruits, nuts, vegetables), medicine from trees, mental health, microclimate (e.g., heat reduction, humidity), air quality and infectious human diseases. We searched the bibliographic databases PubMed, Scopus, AGRIS and Web of Science from the databases´ inception until January 2023. In addition, relevant evidence was identified in reference lists from retrieved articles. We included all articles using original data regardless of study design or geographical region.
2. Identification of stakeholders
The Nu-Tree project aimed at establishing networks between stakeholders engaged in agroforestry from different sectors and backgrounds, bringing them together and performing individual interviews. We identified relevant stakeholders using the experience and networks of project team members, combined with the results from an internet search of organizations and institutions engaged in agroforestry research and programs. Relevant stakeholders of these organizations were met in person or online for initial interviews. Additionally, we requested that these contacts provide links to other relevant contact persons in their networks to reach a maximum number of relevant stakeholders.
3. Workshops conducted
The Nu-Tree project team conducted three workshops that employed various participatory methods aimed at soliciting feedback, stimulating discussions, and fostering collaboration among participating stakeholders. The selected methods aimed to raise awareness, ensure maximal and comprehensive stakeholder engagement, encourage diverse perspectives, and build a collaborative network among the participants for developing future agroforestry projects that integrate and evaluate nutrition and health aspects.
Ergebnisse
The Nu-Tree project successfully raised the awareness of several key stakeholders in Germany and sub-Saharan Africa regarding the importance of agroforestry for human nutrition and health. Stakeholders from diverse sectors, including farmers, practitioners, NGOs, GIZ as well as research and education, understood the importance of considering nutrition and health aspects in ongoing or planned agroforestry projects. This was mainly promoted by the three workshops and the methodological practices performed in the Nu-Tree project. During these workshops, results from our systematic review were discussed and reflected upon, highlighting the dearth of evidence showing the relationship between agroforestry practices and human health and nutrition. The conceptual framework was presented and substantial feedback was given by participants, resulting in increased awareness of connections between agroforestry programs and nutrition and health, and thus how to effectively monitor and evaluate programs to assess these relationships. Furthermore, knowledge and experiences were shared among the participants and the Nu-Tree team and networks were built and strengthened. Activities done during small group work further supported knowledge exchange and networking among participants with different backgrounds. The involved stakeholders agreed that it is important to monitor and evaluate nutrition and health aspects in their agroforestry projects. There was positive feedback from the workshop participants regarding the learning effect from the Nu-Tree team keynotes on sound research design and indicator selection as well as on statistical analyses. Participants identified knowledge gaps regarding these topics and were very motivated to use the project’s roadmap for improving their future projects, contributing critical feedback to the development of this document. Thus the Nu-Tree project will contribute to better integration of nutrition and health aspects during the implementation of future agroforestry projects of the involved stakeholders. The project largely achieved its objectives as expected. In particular, even more stakeholders were reached as planned and this connection enabled effective networking among them, especially during the workshops. This has effectively led to the development of additional by-products of the project, including joint proposal development. Moreover, all workshop participants reported that they highly appreciated the project and its approaches.
Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
The primary outputs of the Nu-Tree project consist of the following:
(1) systematic literature review,
(2) workshop reports,
(3) conceptual framework,
(4) a roadmap.
Each of these four outputs of the Nu-Tree project was presented in preliminary form at the stakeholder workshops and were critically reviewed by participating attendees. Each output underwent specific changes to address the recommendations and suggestions given by the workshop participations to better adapt these concepts and messages to the target audience.
The systematic review has been published as a master’s thesis (Knollmann, 2024) and is currently being updated for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. Preliminary findings from this review were also presented at the Tropentag conference in September 2023 (Knollmann et al., 2023). Additionally, the project's overarching goals were showcased at the Planetary Health Hybrid Annual Meeting in 2022 (Kehlenbeck et al., 2022) and presented to participants of a stakeholder meeting at DBU in Sep 2022 (‘Fachtagung Water-Energy-Food Nexus und Planetary Health’).
Fazit
The Nu-Tree project has been successful in bringing together a diverse group of agroforestry experts to reflect on the need for, and methods of, integrating nutrition and health aspects into their projects. In addition to the tangible outcomes of the project including the systematic review, conceptual framework, and roadmap, it has created a network of people from the Global South (particularly Eastern Africa) and the Global North (particularly Germany) willing to collaborate on the topic in future projects. The Nu-Tree project has generated interest in filling specific research gaps regarding the direct benefits of agroforestry for human nutrition and health and attracted interest from different stakeholders. Involved stakeholders expressed their commitment to integrate and monitor nutrition and health aspects into their future agroforestry projects. A number of proposals were jointly developed by some of the participating organizations and ideas for further proposals were collected during the workshops.
In conclusion, the Nu-Tree project reached its overall objectives and has created promising spillovers to research and project design of agroforestry programs aiming to positively improve nutrition and health.