Summary
The diets of over two-thirds of the world's population lack one or more essential mineral elements. This can be remedied through dietary diversification, mineral supplementation, food fortification, or increasing the concentrations and/or bioavailability of mineral elements in produce (biofortification). This article reviews aspects of soil science, plant physiology and genetics underpinning crop biofortification strategies, as well as agronomic and genetic approaches currently taken to biofortify food crops with the mineral elements most commonly lacking in human diets: iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iodine (I) and selenium (Se). Two complementary approaches have been successfully adopted to increase the concentrations of bioavailable mineral elements in food crops. First, agronomic approaches optimizing the application of mineral fertilizers and/or improving the solubilization and mobilization of mineral elements in the soil have been implemented. Secondly, crops have been developed with: increased abilities to acquire mineral elements and accumulate them in edible tissues; increased concentrations of ‘promoter’ substances, such as ascorbate, β-carotene and cysteine-rich polypeptides which stimulate the absorption of essential mineral elements by the gut; and reduced concentrations of ‘antinutrients’, such as oxalate, polyphenolics or phytate, which interfere with their absorption. These approaches are addressing mineral malnutrition in humans globally.

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Biofortification of crops with seven mineral elements often lacking in human diets--iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, selenium and iodine.

Enhancing the resilience of ecosystem services (ES) that underpin human well-being is critical for meeting current and future societal needs, and requires specific governance and management policies. Using the literature, we identify seven generic policy-relevant principles for enhancing the resilience of desired ES in the face of disturbance and ongoing change in social-ecological systems (SES). These principles are (P1) maintain diversity and redundancy, (P2) manage connectivity, (P3) manage slow variables and feedbacks, (P4) foster an understanding of SES as complex adaptive systems (CAS), (P5) encourage learning and experimentation, (P6) broaden participation, and (P7) promote polycentric governance systems. We briefly define each principle, review how and when it enhances the resilience of ES, and conclude with major research gaps. In practice, the principles often co-occur and are highly interdependent. Key future needs are to better understand these interdependencies and to operationalize and apply...

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-051211-123836

Toward Principles for Enhancing the Resilience of Ecosystem Services

The coming decades are likely to see increasing pressures on the global food system, both on the demand side from increasing population and per capita consumption, and on the supply side from greater competition for inputs and from climate change. This paper argues that the magnitude of the challenge is such that action is needed throughout the food system, on moderating demand, reducing waste, improving governance and producing more food. It discusses in detail the last component, arguing that more food should be produced using sustainable intensification (SI) strategies, and explores the rationale behind, and meaning of, this term. It also investigates how SI may interact with other food policy agendas, in particular, land use and biodiversity, animal welfare and human nutrition.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2012.0273

Food security and sustainable intensification

The narrowing of diversity in crop species contributing to the world’s food supplies has been considered a potential threat to food security. However, changes in this diversity have not been quantified globally. We assess trends over the past 50 y in the richness, abundance, and composition of crop species in national food supplies worldwide. Over this period, national per capita food supplies expanded in total quantities of food calories, protein, fat, and weight, with increased proportions of those quantities sourcing from energy-dense foods. At the same time the number of measured crop commodities contributing to national food supplies increased, the relative contribution of these commodities within these supplies became more even, and the dominance of the most significant commodities decreased. As a consequence, national food supplies worldwide became more similar in composition, correlated particularly with an increased supply of a number of globally important cereal and oil crops, and a decline of other cereal, oil, and starchy root species. The increase in homogeneity worldwide portends the establishment of a global standard food supply, which is relatively species-rich in regard to measured crops at the national level, but species-poor globally. These changes in food supplies heighten interdependence among countries in regard to availability and access to these food sources and the genetic resources supporting their production, and give further urgency to nutrition development priorities aimed at bolstering food security.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/111/11/4001.full.pdf

Increasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security

Indigenous and local knowledge systems as well as practitioners’ knowledge can provide valid and useful knowledge to enhance our understanding of governance of biodiversity and ecosystems for human well-being. There is, therefore, a great need within emerging global assessment programs, such as the IPBES and other international efforts, to develop functioning mechanisms for legitimate, transparent, and constructive ways of creating synergies across knowledge systems. We present the multiple evidence base (MEB) as an approach that proposes parallels whereby indigenous, local and scientific knowledge systems are viewed to generate different manifestations of knowledge, which can generate new insights and innovations through complementarities. MEB emphasizes that evaluation of knowledge occurs primarily within rather than across knowledge systems. MEB on a particular issue creates an enriched picture of understanding, for triangulation and joint assessment of knowledge, and a starting point for further knowledge generation.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs13280-014-0501-3.pdf

Connecting Diverse Knowledge Systems for Enhanced Ecosystem Governance: The Multiple Evidence Base Approach

Over the last two decades, the importance of conserving genetic resources has received increasing attention. In this context the role of home gardens as repositories of biological diversity has been acknowledged but still a comprehensive, interdisciplinary investigation of their agro-biodiversity is lacking. Home gardens, whether found in rural or urban areas, are characterized by a structural complexity and multifunctionality which enables the provision of different benefits to ecosystems and people. Studies carried out in various countries demonstrate that high levels of inter- and intra-specific plant genetic diversity, especially in terms of traditional crop varieties and landraces, are preserved in home gardens. Families engage in food production for subsistence or small-scale marketing and the variety of crops and wild plants provides nutritional benefits. At the same time, home gardens are important social and cultural spaces where knowledge related to agricultural practices is transmitted and through which households may improve their income and livelihoods. The present article summarizes available literature on the biological and cultural significance of agro-biodiversity in home gardens. It discusses future constraints and opportunities in home garden research, in the prospect of defining and promoting their role in conservation of agricultural biodiversity and cultural heritage.

Home gardens: neglected hotspots of agro-biodiversity and cultural diversity

The increased awareness of the health protecting properties of
non-nutrient bio-active compounds found in fruits and vegetables, has
directed immense attention to vegetables as vital components of daily
diets. For sub-Saharan African (SSA) populations, this attention on
vegetables as vital dietary components is significant, as leafy
vegetables have long been known to be indispensable ingredients in
traditional sauces that accompany carbohydrate staples. African
indigenous and traditional leafy vegetables thus have a pivotal role in
the success of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global
initiative on fruits and vegetables consumption in the sub-continent. 
The joint WHO/FAO 2004 report on a Global Strategy on Diet, Physical
Activity and Health, recommended a minimum daily intake of 400g of
fruits and vegetables. Also, at their 2004 joint Kobe workshop, the WHO
and FAO developed a framework that proposes ways to promote increased
production, availability and access, and adequate consumption of fruits
and vegetables. This framework is expected to guide the development of
cost-efficient and effective interventions for the promotion of
adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables at the national and
sub-national level. This paper explores ways to integrate African
indigenous leafy vegetables into the global fruit and vegetable
programme initiative, and identifies some existing barriers to their
effective mobilization. African Leafy Vegetables are increasingly
recognized as possible contributors of both micronutrients and
bio-active compounds to the diets of populations in Africa. Available
data on the more commonly consumed varieties point to antioxidants
containing leafy vegetables that can also provide significant amounts
of beta carotene, iron, calcium and zinc to daily diets. How can the
successful Nairobi leafy vegetable experience, be mainstreamed across
the subcontinent to ensure their mobilization and integration in WHO's
fruit and vegetable initiative? The Kobe framework recommends that
fruit and vegetable promotion interventions should consider the process
from production to consumption. Very little is known about the
production and consumption of African Leafy Vegetables. An expert
report on patterns of vegetable consumption in the subcontinent lists
common vegetables as onions, carrots, tomatoes and cabbage. Clearly,
information on production, processing, distribution and marketing,
preparation and consumption of vegetable species relevant to SSA, are
vital and constitute the prop on which intervention programmes can be
developed. Through its long collaboration with national governments,
Bioversity International is well placed to catalyze the process of data
generation and dissemination by countries in the sub-continent.

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African leafy vegetables: their role in the world health organization's global fruit and vegetables initiative

BackgroundIn spite of the strides made globally in reducing hunger, the problems of micronutrient deficiencies and coexisting obesity and related cardiovascular and degenerative diseases constitute a formidable challenge for the future. Attempts to reverse this trend with single-nutrient intervention strategies have met with limited success, resulting in renewed calls for food-based approaches. The deployment of agricultural biodiversity is an approach that entails greater use of local biodiversity to ensure dietary diversity.ObjectiveTo outline a new strategy proposed by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) that employs agricultural biodiversity as the primary resource for food security and health.MethodsThe authors carried out a meta-analysis to review and assemble existing information on the nutritional and healthful properties of traditional foods based on a diverse set of case studies and food composition and nutritional analysis studies. The methods highlight particular exampl...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/156482650602700208

Agricultural biodiversity, nutrition, and health: making a difference to hunger and nutrition in the developing world.

The biodiversity of traditional leafy vegetables

Simplification of human diets associated with increased accessibility of inexpensive agricultural commodities and erosion of agrobiodiversity leads to nutrient deficiencies and excess energy consumption. Non-communicable diseases are growing causes of death and disability worldwide. Successful food systems in transition effectively draw on locally-available foods, food variety and traditional food cultures. In practice this process involves empirical research, public policy, promotion and applied action in support of multi-sectoral, community-based strategies linking rural producers and urban consumers, subsistence and market economies, and traditional and modern food systems. Implementation of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute's Global Nutrition Strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa offers a useful case study. Relevant policy platforms, in which biodiversity conservation and nutrition are and should be linked, include the Millennium Development Goals, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Convention on Biological Diversity, Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, Food-Based Dietary Guidelines, Right to Adequate Food and UN Human Rights Commission's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The largely unexplored health benefits of cultivated and wild plants include micronutrient intake and functions related to energy density, glycaemic control, oxidative stress and immuno-stimulation. Research on the properties of neglected and underutilized species and local varieties deserves higher priority. In tests of the hypothesis that biodiversity is essential for dietary diversity and health, quantitative indicators of dietary and biological diversity can be combined with nutrition and health outcomes at the population level. That traditional systems once lost are hard to recreate underlines the imperative for timely documentation, compilation and dissemination of eroding knowledge of biodiversity and the use of food culture for promoting positive behaviours.

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Pablo Eyzaguirre

Papers

Home gardens: neglected hotspots of agro-biodiversity and cultural diversity

African leafy vegetables: their role in the world health organization's global fruit and vegetables initiative

Agricultural biodiversity, nutrition, and health: making a difference to hunger and nutrition in the developing world.

The biodiversity of traditional leafy vegetables

Linking biodiversity, diet and health in policy and practice