Clearing land to feed a growing human population will threaten thousands of species

[UngulateNerd92]

Humankind’s growing need for food is running up against thousands of other species’ need for space.

By 2050, humans may need to clear an additional 3.35 million square kilometers of land for agriculture. Converting these largely natural habitats, collectively about the size of India, would squeeze more than 17,000 vertebrate species from some of their lands, researchers report December 21 in Nature Sustainability.

But changing how, where and what food is grown can minimize the impacts, says conservation scientist David Williams of the University of Leeds in England. “We can feed the planet without screwing it up too badly.”

To figure out how, Williams and colleagues first identified habitats most likely to be cleared for cropland. The team then calculated the amount of food needed to sustain projected human population growth for 152 countries and mapped where crops would likely be grown in each, based in part on past land use changes. By 2050, the world’s 13 million square kilometers of cropland would need to increase by 26 percent, the team found. That growth is largely concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/clearing-land-feed-human-population-2050-threat-species

 

[Jurek7]

Interesting, but Europe could already reduce its area of agricultural land because farming is highly productive.

Also, the article seems to use newspeak of 'healthier diet' for reducing livestock farming. Turning low-intensity grazed land into agricultural fields in the tropics could be a gigantic disaster for wildlife, probably bigger than changing existing low intensity agriculture to high intensity. Additionally, much of the today grazed land may be unsuitable for growing crops.