One-third of agricultural land accounts for two-thirds of global impact, study reveals
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Agriculture covers more than 40% of Earth's habitable land and plays a central role in both climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet the impact of agriculture is far from evenly distributed across space.
In a new study published in Nature Food, Baoxiao Liu and her colleagues from Leiden's Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) mapped where agriculture causes the greatest damage worldwide.
Maps show where agriculture causes the greatest damage
Liu and her colleagues combined data on agricultural land, biodiversity and carbon storage with information on different food products. This allowed them to create global maps showing where agriculture places the greatest pressure on climate and nature.
The maps reveal that the impact is highly concentrated: Around two-thirds of biodiversity loss and the loss of natural carbon storage occur on just one-third of agricultural land.
The largest hotspots are found in Mexico and Central America, parts of Brazil, West Africa, India, China and Southeast Asia. "These are mainly regions where agriculture is either very intensive or takes place in ecosystems that naturally store large amounts of carbon and are rich in biodiversity, such as tropical forests," Liu explains. "When these areas are converted into farmland, both values are lost at the same time."
Cattle farming causes the most damage
The researchers not only mapped where the damage occurs but also which food products contribute most to these impacts. Products from cattle farming, such as beef and milk, are among the largest contributors to environmental damage worldwide.
Together, beef and milk account for 41% of biodiversity loss and 29% of the loss of carbon storage caused by food production. "Animal-based products, and especially products from cattle, have a disproportionately large impact," Liu says. "Cattle require large amounts of agricultural land, both for grazing and for growing feed crops."
Targeted measures can deliver major benefits
Previous studies often examined either carbon loss or biodiversity loss, usually at a much coarser spatial scale. This study is the first to map both types of environmental loss simultaneously at a global scale, with detailed resolution and linked to different food products.
"If we target a relatively small share of agricultural land, this can already deliver major benefits for climate and nature," Liu says. Because the greatest losses are concentrated in specific areas and products, targeted measures can have a substantial impact. These could include improving agricultural practices, protecting vulnerable areas and changing food consumption patterns so that less land is needed for food production, allowing areas to recover as natural ecosystems where possible.
"The losses we see also represent potential gains," Liu says. "Agriculture can therefore not only be part of the problem but also offer major opportunities to address both crises."
Publication details
Baoxiao Liu et al, High-resolution carbon and biodiversity mapping shows correlated losses across space and agricultural products, Nature Food (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01387-0
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