1. Harvesting wild species uses naturally occurring plants, fungi, or animals instead of converting land for farming.
2. Traditional harvesting methods often rely on local ecological knowledge, enabling sustainable use without large-scale habitat destruction.
3. Land conversion for agriculture typically involves deforestation, drainage, burning, or clearing, which removes habitats and reduces biodiversity.
4. Sustainable wild harvesting can support local livelihoods, maintain ecosystem functioning, and protect biodiversity.

Why Traditional Harvesting May Be More Sustainable

1. Traditional harvesting requires little or no land clearing, preserving forests, wetlands, and grasslands.
2. Wild species regenerate naturally when harvest rates remain below replenishment rates.
3. Many wild species depend on intact ecosystems for growth, meaning harvesters must maintain the habitat itself.
4. Traditional methods are often low-impact, using manual tools instead of heavy machinery.
5. Communities using traditional approaches often have cultural taboos, seasonal rules, or quotas that prevent overharvesting.
6. These systems rely on diverse species, reducing pressure on individual populations and allowing ecosystems to remain resilient.

Examples of Sustainable Wild Harvesting

1. Brazil Nuts

1. Brazil nut trees depend on pollination by forest-dependent insects and seed dispersal by agoutis, so they cannot be grown in large plantations.
2. Nearly all global production comes from intact Amazon rainforest in Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia.
3. Harvesting fallen pods does not damage trees, making it a non-destructive process.
4. Brazil nut trade supports indigenous livelihoods, reduces incentives for deforestation, and provides food, oil, and local employment.
5. Sustainable harvest maintains rainforest biodiversity because trees only thrive in healthy ecosystems.

2. Truffles

1. Truffles are underground fungal fruiting bodies that form mutualistic associations with oak and other tree roots.
2. Traditional harvesting uses animals with strong smell (dogs more commonly than pigs) to locate truffles without damaging soil.
3. Truffle production depends on healthy forest soils, giving harvesters incentives to protect trees.
4. Cultivation involves inoculating tree seedlings with spores, requiring careful soil chemistry and long growth periods.
5. Climate change threatens truffle yields due to changes in soil moisture and temperature.

3. Bamboo

1. Bamboo grows extremely fast and requires no fertilizers and little water.
2. Sustainable harvesting removes mature stems while leaving the root system intact.
3. Bamboo supports local economies in China and Southeast Asia.
4. However, commercial bamboo plantations can become monocultures, lowering biodiversity.
5. Replacement of natural forests with bamboo reduces wildlife habitat despite bamboo’s carbon benefits.

4. Honey

1. Honey production can be sustainable when bees forage freely in natural forests.
2. Bees support pollination, boosting forest regeneration.
3. Traditional honey gathering avoids high-stress extraction, unlike commercial methods that may involve wing-clipping, queen confinement, and excessive harvesting.
4. Forest honey supports biodiversity and provides rural income, as seen in Ethiopia and India.

5. Edible Insects

1. Insects are nutrient-dense and require extremely little land, water, and feed.
2. Traditional harvesting is low-impact, but overharvesting can reduce insect populations.
3. Many species decline due to habitat loss and over-exploitation.
4. Insect farming can be scaled sustainably to reduce pressure on wild ecosystems.

Controversial and Endangered Species

1. Pangolins

1. Pangolins are hunted for meat and scales for traditional medicine.
2. All eight species are categorized as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable.
3. Millions have been trafficked over the last decade due to high market demand.
4. Habitat loss and commercial poaching make sustainable hunting impossible.

2. Bears

1. Bears are hunted for meat, fur, oils, and bile.
2. Six out of eight species are endangered or vulnerable.
3. Historical Indigenous hunting was sustainable, but modern methods and market pressures are not.
4. Bears are keystone species, meaning their decline affects entire ecosystems.

3. Bushmeat

1. Bushmeat refers to wild animals hunted for food, especially in African and Asian forests.
2. Provides protein for rural communities but becomes unsustainable when:
   1. modern hunting technologies increase efficiency
   2. demand grows in urban or international markets
   3. slow-reproducing species decline
3. Bushmeat trade creates risks for disease transmission and biodiversity loss.

Sustainability of Low-Productivity, Indigenous, and Traditional Food Systems

1. These systems include subsistence farming, Indigenous agriculture, polyculture, agroforestry, permaculture, and companion planting.
2. They emphasise biodiversity, soil health, low chemical inputs, and community-based knowledge.
3. They often align with ecocentric and biocentric values.
4. They reduce environmental impacts but produce lower yields per unit area than intensive agriculture.

Claims of Sustainability

1. Advocates argue these systems:
   1. reduce greenhouse gas emissions
   2. minimize pollution and soil degradation
   3. enhance biodiversity
   4. preserve cultural knowledge
   5. support climate resilience
2. They often integrate natural cycles, multi-layered vegetation, and diverse crop species.

Challenges in Feeding a Growing Global Population

1. The world population exceeds 8 billion, requiring large volumes of food.
2. Low-productivity systems face:
   1. lower yields, limiting total food output
   2. limited scalability, since they depend on manual labour
   3. restricted market access, often focused on local consumption
   4. economic limitations due to low commercial value
3. They may not match the efficiency of high-yield agriculture, despite being environmentally beneficial.

Global Food Sustainability vs. Productivity Needs

1. Global agriculture needs to feed billions while staying within planetary boundaries.
2. Low-productivity systems:
   1. excel at environmental protection
   2. struggle with high-volume food production
3. High-productivity systems:
   1. produce large amounts of food
   2. cause major environmental degradation