The development of the forest food industry must not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs

The newly revised "Forest Food Certification Standard" was recently released in Beijing by the China Forestry Ecological Development Promotion Association. According to the certification standard, forest food refers to all kinds of edible forest products that follow the principles of sustainable management, come from a good forest environment, and have characteristics such as being original-ecology, pollution-free, healthy, and safe.

Developing forest food has broad "money" prospects in our country. At present, China's forest area has reached 208 million hectares, the forest coverage rate has reached 21.66%, and the forest stock volume has reached 15.137 billion cubic meters. These rich forest resources are a huge green treasure house, containing abundant food resources. Taking forest vegetables as an example, data show that there are about 700 species in about 63 families of forest vegetables in China, with about 192 of the most common species, including 110 species of herbaceous plants, about 12 species of vines, and about 70 species of woody plants. Most are in a wild state, and some are artificially cultivated, with an average annual production of about 2 billion kg. It is indeed necessary for us to turn these "mountain goods" into "mountain delicacies."

The important characteristics of forest food are original-ecology, pollution-free, high nutrition, and healthy and safe. Carrying out forest food certification and turning "mountain goods" in the forest into "mountain delicacies" can, first, open up new ways of food production, reduce dependence on basic agricultural products for consumption, and at the same time enrich our rice bag, vegetable basket, and fruit plate.

Developing forest food and carrying out forest food certification can, second, replenish and even enrich the wallets of some ordinary people. About 300 million people in the world make their home in forests and make a living from forests. Among China's poor population, 60% are mainly distributed in mountainous areas and forest areas where ecosystems are very fragile. How to help the people in these areas escape poverty and embark on the road to moderate prosperity is a pressing task. If this path of building forest food bases and developing forest food is explored well, food resources from the mountains and produced in forests will definitely become the "green wealth" of people in mountainous and forest areas, enabling them to escape poverty and increase their incomes.

However, although developing forest food is certainly of great significance, attention must also be paid to sustainability, and we must not endlessly demand food from forests. Like forest resources, although forest food resources can regenerate, their growth cycle is relatively long. If we collect and extract excessively, the speed of regeneration will probably be far slower than the speed of collection and extraction.

Since forest food comes from forests, when developing forest food we must put an end to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, minimize and prevent damage to the ecological environment such as the ground surface and trees, and carry out timely restoration and compensation. For example, promptly earth up plants with exposed roots and stems, and promptly plant greenery in places where the ground surface is exposed. In developing forest food, apart from the portion that comes directly from forests, most should still be achieved through artificial cultivation. For example, artificially cultivating truffles can reduce damage to the natural ecology. In short, forest food must follow the path of sustainable development under the premise of maintaining forest ecological balance and protecting species diversity.