Sounds strange, but disturbed sex life of plants has links to human health and longevity. A new research paper, published recently, says reduced pollination inflicts three to five per cent loss of fruit, vegetable and nut annually globally.
Worse, it affects human health. Around 450,000 people die annually from lost healthy food consumption. This has links to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain cancers, according to the research paper published by Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health.
This is the first study to quantify the human health toll of insufficient wild (animal) pollinators on human health, according to Science Daily which published the paper.
Botanists define pollination as the process of transfer of pollen grains from the anther of the stamen, or male reproductive part, to the stigma on the pistil, or female reproductive part. The stigma perches in the gynoecium of the flower. Its main function is to attract the pollen grains from the air with its sticky tip for reproduction to take place.
Principal research scientist, Planetary Health, Department of Environmental Health and senior author of the Harvard School study, Samuel Myers says, “A critical missing piece in the biodiversity discussion has been a lack of direct linkages to human health. This research establishes that loss of pollinators is already impacting health on a scale with other global health risk factors, such as prostate cancer or substance use disorders.”
Climate change affects crop pollination. Researchers say shifts in phenology reduces the floral resources available to 17 to 50 per cent of the pollinator species. A temporal mismatch can be detrimental to both plants and pollinators.
A paper titled ‘Potential Effects of Climate Change on Pollination’, published by Food and Agricultural Organisation, says, “Pollination is a crucial stage in the reproduction of most flowering plants, and pollinating animals are essential for transferring genes within and among populations of wild plant species.” This is an important process because “fruit, vegetable and seed production from 87 of the world’s leading food crops depend upon animal pollination, representing 35 per cent of global food production”.
Authors of the paper estimate total economic value of crop pollination over $ 163 billion annually. Fruits and vegetable are pollinator-dependent crops. Quantitatively they represent around $53 billion each in the agricultural chain. Edible oil crops, coffee, cocoa, nuts and spices come next.
The Harvard researchers show empirical evidence from hundreds of experimental farms across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. They looked at “pollinator yield gaps” for the most important pollinator-dependent crops, to show how much crop loss was due to insufficient pollination. They used a global risk-disease model to estimate the health impacts the changes in pollination could have on dietary risks and mortality by country. They calculated the loss of economic value from lost pollination in three case study countries.
Their results show lost food production concentrated in lower-income countries, but the health burden was greater in middle-and higher-income countries, where rates of non-communicable diseases are higher.
The geographic distribution was unusual. Generally, the health effects because of global environmental change affect the poorest populations in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, middle-income countries with large populations - China, India, Indonesia, and Russia - suffered the greatest burden.
The analysis shows lower-income countries lost significant agricultural income due to insufficient pollination and lower yields, potentially 10-30pc of total agricultural value.
Co-author and, senior scientist, International Food Policy Research Institute Timothy Sulser says, “The results might seem surprising, but they reflect the complex dynamics of factors behind food systems and human populations around the world. Only with this type of interdisciplinary modelling can we get a better fix on the magnitude and impact of the problem.”
(Sudeep Sonawane, an India-based journalist, has worked in five countries in the Middle East and Asia. Email: sudeep.sonawane@gmail.com)
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