This article conducts a systematic literature review to analyze and consolidate empirical and/or theoretical evidence that shows the importance of wild foods for household food security in tropical forest areas. For these territories, forest plants, fungi and animals are not only important as a source of food, but also for generating community income. The main challenges related to wild foods are the negative effects on protection of species and the risks to human health when this food is consumed without testing for safety and nutrition. Once these challenges are met, wild foods can serve to bolster food security which can help to sustain territories in tropical forests.

Wild foods contribute to the food security of multiple communities in tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, wild foods are not regularly considered in the planning of strategies for food and nutrition security mainly due to the lack of technical and/or scientific knowledge so that they can be considered suitable for human consumption. This paper proposes a multidisciplinary method that estimates the potential of wild foods as alternative resources when planning interventions in favour of food and nutrition security in tropical forest territories. When designing the method, four dimensions were identified in science, technology and innovation (STI) that define this potential as well as ten assessment criteria. The wild foods chosen for applying the method were Alibertia patinoi (a fruit commonly known as Borojó) and Proechimys semispinosus (Mouse of thorns), which are two of the main wild foods traditionally used by human communities in a tropical forest territory in the northwest of Colombia. In both cases, although there are significant advances in STI, compliance with some criteria is still required to regard them as viable alternatives for nutrition and food security within this territory. This research is useful for promoting the inclusion of wild food in food security programmes for communities where this food is already included in their traditional pattern of consumption and identifies the progress needed in STI to achieve this purpose. It may also promote the early recognition of possible traditional and cultural practices with high risk of transmission of pathogenic elements by the handling and/or inadequate consumption of wild foods. This early recognition could contribute to the prevention of diseases of wild animal origin, including those of rapid global spread.

Traditional consumption of plants, fungi and wild animals constitutes a reality for the feeding of diverse human groups in different tropical territories of the world. In this regard, there are two views within the academic community: (1) those who defend the importance of the traditional consumption for family food security in rural areas, especially in tropical countries with emerging development; and (2) those who affirm their inconvenience as they are considered vectors of rapidly spreading diseases worldwide. A systematic literature review and an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with experts were carried out to identify the contributing criteria and dimensions in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) that help evaluate the potential of wild foods for responsible consumption in terms of human health and nature conservation. Four dimensions were identified. The first three are: (1) importance of food for the community that consumes it (w = 0.31); (2) nutritional value and risks for human health (w = 0.28) and (3) sustainability of the local use of wild food model (w = 0.27). These three obtained similar integrated relative weights, which suggests the possible balanced importance in the formulation of multidisciplinary methods for estimating the potential of wild foods. The fourth identified dimension is: (4) transformation techniques for turning wild foods into products with commercial potential, obtained an integrated relative weight of 0.14, which, although is lower than the other three, still contributes to the potential of this type of food. The study found ten assessment criteria to evaluate the identified dimensions, constituting a starting point to estimate the potential of this type of food.

Background. The Afro-descendant communities inhabiting the lower portion of the Atrato River basin in Colombia maintain a close relationship with their environment's biological diversity and ecosystem. Although the wild birds in the basin have been studied for their richness and ecological value, there are no ethnobiological accounts, even though this resource has been traditionally used in these communities’ feeding. Even though most of such communities consist of fishers, farmer families, and wood merchants, they have a solid vocation for occasional hunting since the performance of their regular activities requires that they carry tools such as a shotgun for hunting the wild birds and mammals they come across in passing through the jungle or near a swamp. Objective. Know the traditional use of meat and wild bird by-products by two Afro-descendant communities in the lower basin of the Atrato River in northwestern Colombia. Methodology. Interviews were conducted with 21 key informants (local experts) as well as 173 household surveys. Mann-Whitney end Kruskal Wallis tests were performed to determine statistically significant differences using the R Software 4.1.2 and RStudio 1.4.1103 programs. Results. Wild bird diversity in the tropical rainforest provides a wide range of meat products for food security of the Afro-descendant communities that inhabit the lower portion of the Atrato River basin in Colombia. This assortment consists of at least 20 species, Galliformes foremost. Meat and viscera are generally consumed through preparations such as sancocho, stewed meat, fried meat, smoked meat, roasted meat, ground meat, or shredded meat, and no disease or discomfort for human health have thus far been associated with its consumption. Wild birds are consumed in all the households that were surveyed, and the most important for these communities are Cairina moschata sylvestris (mountain duck), Penelope ortoni (dusky-legged guan), Dendrocygna autumnalis (black-bellied whistling duck), Chauna chavaria (northern screamer), Colinus cristatus (crested bobwhite), Phalacrocorax brasilianus (crow duck) and Ortalis cinereiceps (little ground tyrant). Comparisons between the two communities showed that this resource becomes more critical the more isolated the territory. Implications. This study is an input to understand the importance of wild biological diversity for family feeding in human communities in tropical zones. Conclusions. The seven species indicated above constitute the basis for prioritizing wild birds for bioprospecting purposes in planning food and nutritional security for these communities, which also requires that the parties involved in biodiversity conservation pay particular attention to certain species being used for food.

El departamento del Chocó (Pacífico norte colombiano) figura dentro de los ocho lugares registrados como los principales sitios de origen de la fauna silvestre decomisada en Colombia; sin embargo, para la región no se cuenta con estadísticas claras sobre las especies con mayor frecuencia de decomiso, ni con evaluaciones sobre el proceso y la disposición de los ejemplares posterior al mismo, elementos que podrían ser fundamentales para el diseño de estrategias de conservación del recurso. Por lo anterior, en el presente estudio, se identificó la fauna silvestre decomisada en el departamento del Chocó, durante 2005 a 2010, para lo cual, se revisaron las bases de datos oficiales de autoridades ambientales y se entrevistaron a funcionarios de las mismas. A nivel de resultados, se obtuvo que las aves y los mamíferos son los grupos taxonómicos más decomisados, ya que cerca del 80% de individuos aprehendidos pertenecen a estos taxones. La especie más incautada fue Trachemys callirostris callirostris (tortuga Icotea), con el 22,2% (161 individuos), del total de individuos. El municipio de Quibdó es la zona geográfica del departamento donde se registró el mayor número de individuos y de especies decomisadas. No se identificaron rutas establecidas para el tráfico de fauna silvestre. En cuanto a conservación, se estableció que la mayor parte de las especies decomisadas (80,6%), se clasifican en alguna categoría de amenaza, según los criterios establecidos por la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN), siendo los peces, las aves y los mamíferos los vertebrados más críticos en esta materia.