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SustainableFuture
Reducing the biodiversity footprint of food consumption requires immediate and widespread action, writes Quentin Read
The food on our plate has a footprint. Every bite of food we consume represents the environmental impact of all the resources used to produce that food. Land is the most important of those resources. As food is transported from farm to fork, the land used to grow the food is ‘virtually transported’. Depending on what you eat, a bite can contain a potpourri of virtually embedded land that supports a wide diversity of wild plants and animals.
That wild biodiversity is threatened by the production and consumption of global food systems. Expansion of agricultural land pushes biodiversity beyond a safe limit. Some species may already be ‘walking dead’, doomed to extinction because they no longer have a habitat large enough to avoid a population crash.
In collaboration with NASA, researchers from universities in the United States are conducting complex geospatial statistics to closely examine these future impacts on biodiversity. Similar efforts around the world are leading some governments, including the United States, to prioritize protecting land within its borders.
But more ambitious conservation efforts are urgently needed.
According to the latest estimates, 64 percent of the land in North America must be preserved to protect biodiversity, mainly because of the ecologically intact areas of Canada and the United States. In contrast, at least 33.1 percent of Europe’s land area requires conservation. The most threatened country is concentrated in developing countries where mining and agriculture are economic mainstays. More than half of the most threatened habitats are in Africa.
To preserve biodiversity, we must work not only to protect natural habitats, but also to reduce the demand for land from the food system. If, as predicted, we have to feed 10 billion people by 2050, all that extra food would require cutting down at least 1.5 billion hectares of forests, savannas and wetlands, an area almost twice the size of India.
But not all is lost.
There are two main ways that governments and individuals can reduce the food system’s demand for land: eating a smart plant-based diet and reducing food waste.
First, consider your diet. Animal products require large amounts of land to grow feed and graze livestock. This includes not only meat, but dairy, eggs and even fish, which increasingly come from aquaculture farms that use feed from land. A smart plant-based diet is a better way to reduce land demand and impact on biodiversity compared to a diet high in meat and dairy.
But not just any plant-based diet is enough. Only a smart plant-based diet that avoids getting too much food from regions with high levels of endangered biodiversity will reduce the impact compared to a diet high in meat and dairy. This means reducing consumption of some of our favorite foods, such as avocados, chocolate, cashews, and other tropical fruits. The international food trade of these types of products spreads the local impact on biodiversity all over the world.
If that sounds too difficult, here’s the good news. Reducing food waste before consumption and consumers by 50 percent — which may be an easier change than a radical diet overhaul — has almost as much positive impact on reducing land demand in highly biodiverse areas as changing it. of diets. In the United States, halving food waste could reduce the impact on biodiversity by 18 percent.
It’s important to keep in mind that both dietary changes and reducing food waste are not just individual choices. Governments could implement policies that are more aggressive in tackling food waste on the farm, supermarket and home. As a recent UN report showed, household waste in the developed world is currently increasing worldwide. Stimulating the production of plant-based meat alternatives would also help consumers make biodiversity-friendly choices.
Challenging decisions need to be made. We must carefully manage complex problems and unforeseen consequences to reduce the impact of the food we eat on biodiversity. An important piece of the puzzle is to help consumers better understand how their diets and food waste affect global biodiversity. This means that at a personal and societal level, difficult trade-offs may be required to better balance human health, economics and environmental sustainability.
Quentin Read is a data scientist and ecologist. He is currently the Southeast Area Statistician at the Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), based at North Carolina State University.
Originally published under Creative Commons by means of 360 info™.