Plain language summary: Investigating relationships between protected areas, Indigenous populations and diet quality in Southeast Asia

By Lilly Zietler, Heather Randell, and Bronwen Powell.

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Protected areas are expanding worldwide as new international targets aim to prevent biodiversity loss and curb climate change. The presence of protected areas can affect local populations in many ways, including through changing diets. Protected areas can influence local diets by reducing available farmland, introducing hunting restrictions, or by altering local incomes through tourism in ways that influence food purchasing patterns. Even though protected areas are often sited on Indigenous lands, the relationships between protected areas and local diets in Indigenous population areas remains poorly understood.

We examined the relationships between children’s diets and distance from protected areas in Cambodia and Myanmar and compared those relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous population areas. We found that children’s diet quality improved as distance from protected areas increased up until ~80-kilometers distance, before their diet quality started declining again. Children were also more likely to eat fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin A (an important nutrient for the immune system and eyesight) at 80-kilometers distance from protected areas in Indigenous population areas. Children’s vitamin A-rich fruit and vegetable consumption was not as associated with distance from protected areas in non-Indigenous areas.

Mixed landscapes of both forests and agriculture are widespread at mid-distances from protected areas. The potential of multifunctional landscapes for supporting diet quality, especially in Indigenous population areas, can be recognized and integrated into conservation plans as protected areas expand in the future.