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The challenge of feeding the world while conserving half the planet

Nature Sustainability volume 1, pages 409–412 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Amid widespread concerns about biodiversity loss, a single clear conservation message is engaging leading conservationists: the proposal to give half the surface of the Earth back to nature. Depending on the landscape conservation strategy, we find that, globally, 15–31% of cropland, 10–45% of pasture land, 23–25% of non-food calories and 3–29% of food calories from crops could be lost if half of Earth’s terrestrial ecoregions were given back to nature.

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Fig. 1: Feeding the world under a global deal for nature.
Fig. 2: Maps of calorie losses under each Half-Earth scenario.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant and a Genome Canada/Genome BC grant (to N.R.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Zia Mehrabi & Navin Ramankutty

  2. Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Zia Mehrabi & Navin Ramankutty

  3. Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Erle C. Ellis

Authors
  1. Zia Mehrabi
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  2. Erle C. Ellis
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  3. Navin Ramankutty
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Contributions

Z.M., E.C.E. and N.R. designed the analyses. Z.M. compiled the data and conducted the analyses. Z.M. wrote the paper with input from E.C.E. and N.R.

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Correspondence to Zia Mehrabi.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1, 2, Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Figures 1–4, Supplementary References 1–24

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Mehrabi, Z., Ellis, E.C. & Ramankutty, N. The challenge of feeding the world while conserving half the planet. Nat Sustain 1, 409–412 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0119-8

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