Researchers study impact of consumption trends on biodiverse regions
One quarter of the world’s tropical land could disappear by the end of the century unless meat and dairy consumption falls, researchers have warned.
If the global demand for animal products continues to grow, large swathes of natural land will vanish potentially leading to widespread loss of species and their habitats, www. news-medical.net wrote.
Some nine percent of natural land — 95 percent of which is in the tropics — could go within 80 years unless global dietary habits change, the scientists said.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland’s and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany studied the impact of consumption trends on biodiverse regions — areas that have a wealth of mammals, birds, amphibians and plant life.
They found that rapid increases in meat and milk production result in sharp rises in land clearing in tropical regions that harbor high levels of biodiversity.
As incomes increase across the globe, consumption has shifted from staples such as starchy roots and pulses to meat, milk, and refined sugars.
Meat and dairy production is associated with higher land and water use and higher greenhouse gas emissions than any other foods.
By replacing animal products with plant-based alternatives, they predict that the global demand for agricultural land could be reduced by 11 percent.
Researchers also found that industrial feed systems reduce agricultural expansion but may increase environmental degradation due to agricultural pollutants such as fertilizer.
The study comes after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last week published a special report that identified reducing meat consumption as an important focus for climate change mitigation.