Agroecology frameworks do not explicitly include nutrition, but nutrition is an outcome of many principles of agroecology, with growing evidence that agroecological interventions improve diet quality and nutrition. In this paper, we argue that more explicit attention to the importance of wild foods from diverse agroecological landscapes will further enhance the nutrition outcomes associated with agroecology. In rural landscapes around the world, wild foods provide nutrient-dense and culturally important foods that make significant contributions to the diet in some contexts and are culturally important and highly valued delicacies in others. Agroecological principles, science, and practice already support the maintenance of wild foods in food systems by highlighting ecological principles. These include low or no use of pesticides, landscape diversity, and maintenance of biodiversity, alongside social principles such as traditional knowledge and cultural practices. The focus in agroecology on working with traditional knowledge and cultural practices supports the preservation of traditional knowledge required to responsibly harvest and prepare wild foods. Centering landscape diversity and nutrition as outcomes of agroecology supports the continued use of wild foods and cultural knowledge, especially in rural communities around the globe. More explicit attention to wild foods in agroecological systems will further contribute to associated nutrition outcomes, while simultaneously promoting the maintenance of landscape diversity, biodiversity, preservation of cultural knowledge, and other ecological sound and socially just agricultural practices.

Patterns of plant phytochemical composition vary between populations of any plant species and impact the cultural and economic value of important plant species. Phenotypic outcomes are a combination of genetic, environmental, and human influence. Thymus saturejoides is endemic to Morocco and Algeria and part of a suite of economically important wild plants used to produce essential oils for the global market in the region. Currently, little is known about the human and ecological factors that shape T. saturejoides phenotypic traits. In this paper, we examine the factors that drive phenotypic variation in the species T. saturejoides through the chemical composition of essential oil. We used a systematic review protocol to identify 15 published sources, from which we obtained data on chemical composition (secondary metabolites and/or chemotype) for 51 samples, as well as information on the geographic location of harvest listed in the paper. We used the geographic location information to determine elevation, temperature, precipitation, soil type, and soil carbon. We ran linear regression models to determine if any of these environmental variables were associated with the content of key chemicals known to mark quality and value in T. saturejoides. Elevation was statistically significant in the models for thymol, linalool, p-cymene, carvacrol (p = 0.072), and borneol (p = 0.056). Other environmental variables were not statistically significantly related to the content of any of the chemicals. Although we did not find an association between chemical composition and temperature or precipitation, this does not exclude the possibility that a relationship exists at a finer spatial or temporal scale, such as days, weeks, or months. Our findings could also suggest that genetic and human-related factors, such as time of harvest, are more important than environmental factors.

Biodiversity conservation policy must balance the interests of diverse actors, from global organizations to local communities. Because multiscalar policies often (re)produce international‐level biodiversity narratives and discourses (BNDs)—simplified constructions and explanations of environmental cause and effect with ideological representations of actors involved—the priorities of local communities in biodiversity‐priority countries (BPCs) can be overshadowed by global priorities. To better understand the influence of international‐level BNDs on domestic policy and how it is implemented at local scales, we used critical discourse analysis to examine BNDs in (inter)national‐level conservation‐related policies and reports, key informant interviews, and participant observation, focusing on Africa and Zambia as a case study. Our results show that the nuance of complex drivers of biodiversity loss is often lost in BNDs, in part due to insufficient attention to large‐scale drivers of biodiversity loss. Local decision‐makers are tasked with translating complex scientific processes and values of biodiversity across cultures while synchronizing local communities' needs with international commitments. In practice, local‐level policy often reflects international biodiversity commitments, situating causality and responsibility for biodiversity loss within local communities and domestic governments. We recommend that attention to BDNs and the deeper ideologies, assumptions, and power dynamics reproduced through BNDs is critical in our efforts to make biodiversity conservation strategies as equitable as possible.