Forest Land Conversion, Biodiversity and Food Security Nexus in Ethiopia: Critical Review

Abstract

Food security is a critical global issue, forest land conversion also plays a fundamental role in compromising food security. It is imperative to purposeful comprehend the relationship between forest land conversion, biodiversity and food security for Ethiopia. Forest land conversion is primarily steered by availing land for among other reasons, mainly agriculture. One would hope that this would preach positives towards potential mitigation of the impending food security issues affecting these nations. Biodiversity is a key factor for the achievement of food security. All food systems depend on biodiversity and a broad range of ecosystem services that support agricultural productivity, soil fertility, and water quality and supply. However, the country faces multitude of critical challenges especially the issues of food and broader livelihood insecurity and environmental problems. Forest governance can have a major impact on local people’s livelihoods and food security. Therefore, the nexus approach is used to examine the inter dependencies of forest land conversion, biodiversity and food security to investigate the complex system that influences one of the other single components. In conclusion, this review paper shows that, forests are a major repository of food and other resources that play a crucial role in food security. In addition, maintaining diversity in agricultural production systems leads to increased resilience to shocks particularly in the context of a changing climate.