A multi-year project, funded by Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative, to explore better ways for companies and governments to account for their greenhouse gas emissions in ways that support the efficient uses of land.

What will it take to be able to feed nearly 10 billion people over the next three decades while also addressing and adapting to climate change? This comprehensive report provides a menu of strategies that could allow us to feed everyone, including a model that estimates how much each solution could contribute to the goals of increasing productivity, decreasing demand, or limiting greenhouse gas emissions. C-PREE Research Scholar and WRI Senior Fellow, Tim Searchinger, is lead author of the report. The report was prepared by the World Resources Institute in collaboration with the World Bank, UN Environment, and UNDP, with technical contributions from INRA & CIRAD.

Europe has high potential to reduce its land footprint, the land used to supply its agricultural products and wood. This decline has a critical climate role: Europe’s agricultural footprint includes 24 million hectares of foreign land used to supply net agricultural imports, a land use “outsourcing” that causes a loss of 400 million tons of CO₂ per year. Fortunately, by reasonably increasing crop yields and reducing biofuels to 2010 levels, Europe can eliminate its global land outsourcing and reduce its own cropland by 16.5 million hectares.

The types of food we grow and consume have a direct impact on human health, but they also influence greenhouse gas emissions, water use, energy consumption, transportation and supply chains, and land-use decisions. As of 2010, agriculture was estimated to account for about one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. Our researchers consider the complex relationship among agricultural production techniques, food security, climate change, and human health to make recommendations that optimize our use of resources.

The degradation and conversion of forests to alternative land uses, such as agriculture, is one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss, especially in the tropics. The impacts of land-use change are likely to be exacerbated by the looming climate crisis. Our researchers are studying specifically how species are affected by these changes and their ability to persist in different types of ecosystems.

Worldwide, people are on the move, seeking new economic opportunities in cities and fleeing changing environments and conflicts. The process of rural emigration has contributed to agricultural abandonment, in which lands are left uncultivated as the economic benefits of farming decline. Our researchers seek to understand how these trends will affect wildlife and the habitats they rely on, and recommend policies to help manage these changes.