Carbon News
  • Members
    • Login
      Forgot Password?
    • Not a member? Subscribe
    • Forgot Password
      Back to Login
    • Not a member? Subscribe
  • Home
  • New Zealand
    • Politics
    • Energy
    • Agriculture
    • Carbon emissions
    • Transport
    • Forestry
    • Business
  • Markets
    • Analysis
    • NZ carbon price
  • International
    • Australia
    • United States
    • China
    • Europe
    • United Kingdom
    • Canada
    • Asia
    • Pacific
    • Antarctic/Arctic
    • Africa
    • South America
    • United Nations
  • News Direct
    • Media releases
    • Climate calendar
  • About Carbon News
    • Contact us
    • Advertising
    • Subscribe
    • Service
    • Policies

10% of wilderness outside of Antarctica may be threatened by agriculture as the climate warms

20 Oct 2023

PHOTO: Hendrik Cornelissen on Unsplash

 

Media release | Expansions in crop farming across the globe are the biggest driving force of biodiversity loss in the wild. Now, in a new study publishing in the journal Current Biology on November 6, researchers have modeled how the world’s agricultural landscape could change over the next 40 years.

By pulling information on 1,708 crops from a database created by the Food and Agricultural Organization, they predict that as global temperatures rise, wilderness areas closer to the earth’s poles will become newly suitable for growing crops, placing these valuable ecosystems at risk.

 

“We expected that warming temperatures would increase agricultural suitability at high latitudes,” says lead author Alexandra Gardner of the University of Exeter, “but the scale of this result, and the extent to which this newly suitable land is in wilderness, was surprising: 76% of newly suitable land at high latitudes is currently wilderness, equivalent to 10% of the total wilderness area outside Antarctica.”

 

This statistic means that much of the wilderness is at risk of being significantly harmed as global temperatures rise and humans are forced to seek out environments conducive to high crop yield. Currently, many of the world’s crops are cultivated in regions closer to the equator, which is an area that is already experiencing a loss of wilderness due to agriculture. The researchers predict that over the next 40 years, 72% of land currently suitable for agricultural use will go through a loss of biodiversity as higher-latitude regions become warmer and therefore more suitable for agriculture.

 

Scientists estimate that since the early 1990s, 3.3 million square kilometers of wilderness—an area roughly twice the size of Alaska—have been lost to agricultural activity. Even though many new protected areas have been established since, they have not been enough to keep up with the demand that agriculture places on natural environments.

 

“We need to understand the specific impacts of different agricultural practices on biodiversity,” says Gardner. “An important step is knowing how we can maintain or improve crop yields on existing agricultural land using sustainable practices that do not harm or minimize the negative impacts on natural biodiversity.”

 

Gardner and colleagues say that a good way to do this is to promote manmade biodiversity by growing a variety of crops that have been tailored to the natural environment on a single farm. This has two important benefits: meshing with the environment so as not to disrupt the natural wildlife and protecting crop yields from the threats of climate change. If the effects of climate change cause one crop to fail while the others survive, the agricultural biodiversity the farmer has planned will mean that both the environment and the farmer’s source of income will be largely preserved.

 

The researchers note in their paper that strategy and policy must evolve alongside agriculture. “This is never going to be successful unless you bring the farmers into the decision-making process,” says Ilya Maclean (@IlyaMaclean) of the University of Exeter. “What we’ve seen over the last 50 years is a shift toward extensive large fields and monocultures. It’s much cheaper for a farmer to produce crops that way. But if you grow a single crop on your farm, you’re more susceptible to the uncertainties of climate change.”

 

“What we'll be seeing is parts of the last untouched places on the planet becoming more suited for agriculture,” says Maclean.

print this story


Related Topics:   Science

More >
Media releases
More >

Biodiversity plan is ‘light on detail and heavy on vague intentions’

Today 10:30am

Media Release - WWF New Zealand | The government’s plan to tackle Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity crisis lacks ambition and fails to match the scale and urgency of the challenge.

Gas decline increases urgency for new electricity generation

Today 10:30am

Media release – Transpower | Declining gas availability means New Zealand has to lift the pace at which it is delivering new electricity generation to reliably meet growing demand over the coming years, a new report from Transpower shows.

Hopeful new way to measure human progress

Mon 30 Jun 2025

Media release - University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau | In response to the climate crisis, a new way to measure how well people and nature are living together has been announced in the world's leading scientific journal Nature.

Sustainability rising in importance amid increasing strain on professionals

Thu 26 Jun 2025

Media release - Sustainable Business Council | Research released today into New Zealand’s sustainability profession reveals a compelling picture of a profession which is gaining strategic traction, while grappling with systemic challenges.

Most staple food crop production will face big losses due to climate change

Wed 25 Jun 2025

Media Release – Springer Nature | Most staple food crops are expected to experience substantial production losses due to climate change, even when mitigation measures to limit the impact of climate change are considered.

Latest trawl bycatch numbers 'a grim wake-up call'

24 Jun 2025

Media release – Greenpeace | The latest fisheries bycatch data paints a grim picture, with trawlers hauling up thousands of kilograms of coral and killing hundreds of fur seals and seabirds over a 12 month period.

Global survey finds 8 out of 10 people support taxing oil and gas corporations to pay for climate damages

23 Jun 2025

Media Release – Oxfam Aotearoa | Oxfam's research finds that 585 of the world's largest and most polluting fossil fuel companies made $583 billion in profits in 2024, a 68% increase since 2019.

Kiwi farmers unaware of positive public opinion on their environmental performance

19 Jun 2025

Media Release | Close to 90% of NZ's commercial farmers believe their environmental performance is good, according to a survey of almost 3000 farmers, while less than half that number think the public agrees.

Aviation sector’s climate claims unsupported by credible transition plans

18 Jun 2025

Media Release | New analysis finds over-reliance on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and lack of investment in zero-emission tech, risking long-term decarbonisation failure.

Government undermines regional powers to protect coastal biodiversity

16 Jun 2025

Media Release | The Environmental Defence Society opposes the Government’s decision to press ahead with amendments to the Resource Management Act that severely curtail the ability of regional councils to manage the impacts of fishing on coastal marine biodiversity.

Carbon News

Subscriptions, Advertising & General

[email protected]

Editorial

[email protected]

We welcome comments, news tips and suggestions - please also use this address to submit all media releases for News Direct).

Useful Links
Home About Carbon News Contact us Advertising Subscribe Service Policies
New Zealand
Politics Energy Agriculture Carbon emissions Transport Forestry Business
International
Australia United States China Europe United Kingdom Canada Asia Pacific Antarctic/Arctic Africa South America United Nations
Home
Markets
Analysis NZ carbon price
News Direct
Media releases Climate calendar

© 2008-2025 Carbon News. All Rights Reserved. • Your IP Address: 216.73.216.119 • User account: Sign In

Please wait...
Audit log: