The Guardian reported that a study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows that unless the food industry rapidly reforms and changes are made to how people eat and produce food, the world will experience massive biodiversity loss in the coming decades. Nearly 90% of land animals could lose some of their habitat by 2050. https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50769167886_698238748c_o.jpg Wildfires caused by farmers in the Republic of Congo. Photo credit: Hugh Kinsella Cunningham\/EPA. The study found that biodiversity loss is particularly severe in Africa and Central and South America. David Williams, the lead author of the study and a scholar at the University of Leeds, said that without fundamental changes, millions of square kilometers of natural habitat could be lost by 2050. \"Overall, saving the world's wildlife requires changes to our diet and the way we produce it,\" Williams said. The study calculated how today's expanding food systems will affect biodiversity and found that losses are particularly severe in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and South America. Michael Clark, another lead author and a scholar at the University of Oxford, said that while general conservation strategies, such as establishing new protected areas or legislating to protect specific species, are necessary, the study emphasizes the importance of reducing pressures on biodiversity, such as agricultural expansion. The study examined the potential impacts of large-scale changes in specific regions or countries, including reducing meat consumption, reducing food loss and waste, increasing crop yields, and international land-use planning. The authors say this multifaceted approach allows policymakers to determine which changes would have the greatest benefits in their countries or regions. For example, increasing agricultural yields could have significant benefits for biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa, but would have limited benefits in North America, where yields per unit area are already high. Conversely, in North America, shifting to a healthier diet would have many benefits, but this approach might be less suitable in regions with low meat consumption and high levels of food insecurity. Clark said: \"It is important that we implement these changes across the board. No single approach will be enough. But with rapid, coordinated global action, we should be able to provide the world with a healthy diet by 2050 without causing significant habitat loss.\" Reference: Environmental Information Centre, Guardian (December 21, 2020), Global food industry on course to drive rapid habitat loss \u2013 research<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u885b\u5831\u5831\u5c0e\uff0c\u4e00\u4efd\u767c\u8868\u5728\u300a\u81ea\u7136\u6c38\u7e8c\u6027\uff08Nature Sustainability\uff09\u300b\u671f\u520a\u4e0a\u7684\u7814\u7a76\u986f\u793a\uff0c\u9664\u975e\u98df\u54c1\u7522\u696d […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-environmental-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n