ABSTRACT

This book critically assesses the role of agrobiodiversity in school gardens and its contribution to diversifying diets, promoting healthy eating habits and improving nutrition among schoolchildren as well as other benefits relating to climate change adaptation, ecoliteracy and greening school spaces.

Many schoolchildren suffer from various forms of malnutrition and it is important to address their nutritional status given the effects it has on their health, cognition, and subsequently their educational achievement. Schools are recognized as excellent platforms for promoting lifelong healthy eating and improving long-term, sustainable nutrition security required for optimum educational outcomes. This book reveals the multiple benefits of school gardens for improving nutrition and education for children and their families. It examines issues such as school feeding, community food production, school gardening, nutritional education and the promotion of agrobiodiversity, and draws on international case studies, from both developed and developing nations, to provide a comprehensive global assessment.

This book will be essential reading for those interested in promoting agrobiodiversity, sustainable nutrition and healthy eating habits in schools and public institutions more generally. It identifies recurring and emerging issues, establishes best practices, identifies key criteria for success and advises on strategies for scaling up and scaling out elements to improve the uptake of school gardens.

chapter 1|32 pages

School gardens

Multiple functions and multiple outcomes

chapter 5|9 pages

School gardens in Nepal

Design, piloting, and scaling

chapter 6|19 pages

Trees nurture nutrition

An insight on how to integrate locally available food tree and crop species in school gardens

chapter Case study 1|12 pages

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation Program

chapter Case study 3|7 pages

Food Plant Solutions

School gardens in Vietnam

chapter Case study 6|7 pages

African leafy vegetables go back to school

Farm to school networks embrace biodiversity for food and nutrition in Kenya

chapter Case study 8|9 pages

School gardens (māra)

Today’s learning spaces for Māori

chapter Case study 10|8 pages

Laboratorios para la Vida

Action research for agroecological scaling through food- and garden-based education

chapter Case Study 11|11 pages

Agrobiodiversity education

The inclusion of agrobiodiversity in primary school curricula in Xiengkhouang Province, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic