Trade-off between biodiversity and food security in land use

Date:
February 18, 2022
Source:
Karlsruher Institut fu"r Technologie (KIT)
Summary:
Strict reservation of large land areas for animals and plants
might save humankind from the collapse of species diversity in
the next decades.

However, in some countries, particularly in the global South,
this might endanger food supply.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Numerous scientific studies confirm that further unrestricted
loss of biodiversity as a result of anthropogenic impacts will
limit habitability of our planet in the long term. Humankind could
counteract this by giving protection to large areas, says Professor
Almut Arneth from the Atmospheric Environmental Research Division of
KIT's Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), KIT's
Campus Alpine in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: "This would at least mitigate
the consequences. However, area requirement would be enormous. Some
researchers claim that use of half of the land surface would have to be excluded." Two teams from Campus Alpine and partners at the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh, and the International Institute
for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria have now studied the consequences in detail.


========================================================================== Using coupled socio-ecological models, the researchers analyzed how strict protection of 30 percent and 50 percent of the terrestrial land surface
would affect land use and food security. They found that this would
presumably lead to an intensification of agricultural production on the remaining areas to ensure food supply for the world's population. Food
prices would increase.

Consumption of food and vegetables would decrease and the number of
underweight people in various regions of the world would grow. This
would be associated with an increased risk of diet-related diseases
and mortality.

Unequally Distributed Effects of Extreme Measures Investigations also
revealed that countries of the global South would be affected most by
food scarcity as a result of strict nature protection on large areas due
to their already low food supply level. Richer countries, by contrast,
would be largely spared the negative effects. Here, reduced calorie
consumption as a result of higher food costs would reduce the negative
impacts of overweight and obesity.

First author Dr. Roslyn Henry from the University of Aberdeen
emphasizes that it should certainly not be concluded from the study
that large nature protection areas should be prevented. "Designation of protected areas is one of the most important instruments to reach the biodiversity goals. But it must be used carefully in order to ensure
that food security and health of the population are not endangered,
in particular in the poorer regions of the world." Professor Mark
Rounsevell, researcher of IMK-IFU and one of the authors of the study,
adds: "Our study shows how important it is to take into account the
trade-offs associated with larger nature protection areas. Of course, protection of nature is critical to human well-being. But it must be implemented in a way that doesn't compromise food supply. For instance,
it is possible to enhance the efficiency of existing protection areas."
Study Aims to Raise Awareness of Undesired Effects According to Arneth and Rounsevell, it is highly unlikely that many countries will decide in favor
of a radical protection of 30 percent or even half of their territory:
"In view of the current debate and the uncertainty regarding the form
of potential protection areas, our model study deals with the extreme
effects of protection measures and reveals potential trade-offs that have
to be found -- and that exist." Quantification of such trade-offs will
support future planning, negotiation, and implementation of protection
measures and, in this way, help prevent undesired negative side effects.

special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Karlsruher_Institut_fu"r_Technologie_(KIT). Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Roslyn C. Henry, Almut Arneth, Martin Jung, Sam S. Rabin, Mark D.

Rounsevell, Frances Warren, Peter Alexander. Global and regional
health and food security under strict conservation scenarios. Nature
Sustainability, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41893-021-00844-x ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220218100712.htm

--- up 10 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)