Volume 105, September 2014, Pages 292–305
Analysis
Wild food in Europe: A synthesis of knowledge and data of terrestrial wild food as an ecosystem service
- doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.06.018
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Highlights
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- Wild food is an iconic, sometimes debated but also often enjoyed ecosystem service.
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- Supply, demand and benefits of the ecosystem service wild food in the European Union (EU) were described and quantified.
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- Species richness, occurrence density, flow and demand for wild food were mapped for the EU.
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- 65 million EU citizens collect wild food, and at least 100 million EU citizens consume wild food.
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- Wild food is an increasingly important cultural ecosystem service.
Abstract
Wild
food is an iconic ecosystem service that receives little attention in
quantifying, valuating and mapping studies, due to the perceived low
importance or due to lack of data. Here, we synthesize available data on
the importance of wild food as ecosystem service, its spatial
distribution and relations between supply, demand and benefits in the
European Union (EU), covering all terrestrial wild food groups.
A
wide variety of game (38 species), mushrooms (27 species) and vascular
plants (81 species) is collected and consumed throughout the EU. Income,
age, gender, possibilities for collecting, and cultural factors explain
the importance of wild food. While the economic and nutritional values
of wild food comprise a few thousands of the GDP or total consumption,
over 100 million EU citizens consume wild food. Collecting wild food is
an appreciated recreational activity; collecting and consuming wild food
provide important cultural ecosystem services, including recreation and
sense of place. Because of these benefits, wild food should be included
in EU ecosystem service assessments. Better estimates could be made if
better data on wild food abundance and production are available and by
systematic inventories of participation in wild food collecting.
Keywords
- Ecosystem service;
- Game;
- Wild edible plants;
- Wild berries;
- Wild mushrooms;
- Mapping
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Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.