According to a landmark new study, 102 million hectares (Mha) (252 million acres) of land an area the size of Egypt have been converted to crops since the start of the 21st century. To put this into perspective, while it took more than 8,000 years for humanity to convert 1.1 billion hectares (2.8 billion acres) of nature into cropland by the year 2000, it took a mere 20 more years to expand this area by another 10%.
The world is facing rising demand for land to produce food, feed, fiber and fuel, yet also needs to protect and restore natural ecosystems to help fight climate change, biodiversity loss and deforestation. We outline our approach to address this global land squeeze: Produce-Protect-Reduce-Restore.
RELEASE: AFR100 Issues COP27 Challenge to Mobilize $2 Billion for Africa s Locally Led Land Restoration Movement wri.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wri.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As world leaders prepare to commit to halting the destruction of forests, here’s everything you need to know about some of the planet’s most biodiverse places