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Food resilience in a dark catastrophe: A new way of looking at tropical wild edible plants

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Abstract

A global sun-blocking catastrophe is more plausible than anyone would like to think. Models have consistently shown the devastating effects these events could have to the world’s agricultural systems for upwards of 15 years. New shade-, drought-, and cool-tolerant crops and more food stockpile sources must be found if there would be any hope of feeding the global population in such a scenario. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are important buffers of food security to indigenous peoples, impoverished peoples, and those in areas with erratic growing seasons across the globe. Here, we suggest WEP species that have the potential to be scaled up through cultivation in post-catastrophe conditions, and the use of foraged food stockpiles to function as stop-gap foods until conventional agriculture returns. We also propose policy initiatives for habitat protection, education programs, and general preparedness.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the members of the Penn State Food Resilience in the Face of Catastrophic Global Events research team for their advice and ideas. This work was made possible by a grant from Open Philanthropy.

Funding

Funding was provided by Open Philanthropy, [Penn State University—Research on Emergency Food Resilience (Charles Anderson) (2020)].

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  1. Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, The Pennsylvania State University, 9503 Cottage Ln., Petersburg, PA, 16669, USA

    Daniel Jefferson Winstead

  2. Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, The Pennsylvania State University, 309 Forest Resources Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Michael Gregory Jacobson

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Winstead, D.J., Jacobson, M.G. Food resilience in a dark catastrophe: A new way of looking at tropical wild edible plants. Ambio (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-022-01715-1

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Keywords

  • Catastrophe
  • Food resilience
  • Nuclear winter
  • Tolerant crops
  • Wild edible plants