PhD defence: Rasmus Skov Olesen

Rasmus Skov Olesen defends his thesis, Uncovering pathways between forests, trees and diets

Supervisor:
Associate Professor Laura Vang Rasmussen, IGN

Assessment Committee:
Associate Professor Johan Oldekop, University of Manchester, UK
Senior scientist Amy Ickowitz, CIFOR/ICRAF
Professor Ole Mertz (chair), IGN

Summary (shortened):
The state of the world’s food and nutrition security has experienced setbacks over the past few years – especially due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In 2022, approximately 2.4 billion people suffered from either moderate or severe food insecurity – that is 391 million more people than before the pandemic. Currently, an estimated 3.2 billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet, which has been exacerbated by climbing food and energy prices in recent years. Meanwhile, forests are being removed to expand farmland and increase agricultural output to meet rising food and energy demands. Deforestation is the leading global driver of biodiversity loss and extinction of animal and plant species at a rate that has never occurred before in human history. Historically, strategies to improve food and nutrition security have prioritized agricultural expansion and intensification, often at the expense of forests and thus, biodiversity. However, recent scientific research has shown how forests can contribute positively to people’s diets, and thus point towards win-win solutions for forest protection and food security. Although some of these positive linkages between forests and diets are well-established, numerous knowledge gaps on the various interlinkages between forests, trees and people’s dietary quality remain.
My thesis aims to explore the dynamic and complex relationships between forests, trees and diets in Tanzania.

A digital version of the PhD thesis can be obtained from the PhD secretary at phd@ign.ku.dk