Wild Edible Plant for Food Security & Sustainability- A Case Study by School Students

Today the children of the world are facing severe global challenges including public health, climate change, nutritional deficiencies & lack of traditional knowledge. Along with sedentary lifestyle, increase in diet related disorders and increase in Body Mass Index are major public health issues in modern time. Limited access to wholesome food and relatively easier access to unhealthy food may be linked to malnutrition and ultimately leading to obesity and diet-related illness. To achieve SDG1, SDG2 and SDG13 by 2030, the students of Secondary Education under WBBSE have done field surveys to understand biodiversity which begins on our plates, fostering healthy living. Though field surveys they investigated the habitats of WEPs and their availability. They got the knowledge, awareness that WEPs are considered as useful for their multiple positive values, beneficial for nutritional level and security of food, medicinal value, easy to cultivate as they do not need any fertilizer or human care. They also noted that there is a big developmental change in landscape in the study area, and change in food consumed within a historical timeline of 70 – 80 years. They tried to find whether at present WEPs are included in the regular diet of urban people in Kolkata or not.