Human appropriation of land for food: The role of diet |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK;2. Land Economy and Environment Research Group, SRUC, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK;3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany;4. The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research – A partnership between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Canberra, Australia;1. School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China, China;2. Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, United States;3. School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, China;1. Information and Computing Sciences Group, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, UK;2. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, 23 St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, UK;3. The Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD, UK;1. Netherlands Nutrition Centre (Voedingscentrum), P.O. Box 85700, 2508 CK The Hague, The Netherlands;2. Blonk Consultants, Gravin Beatrixstraat 34, 2805 PJ Gouda, The Netherlands;3. Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands;1. Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, 3 College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland;2. Department of Politics and Exeter Q-Step Centre, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, Devon EX4 4RJ, United Kingdom;3. Department of Politics and International Relations, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, United Kingdom;1. Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100048, China;2. Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA;3. Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China;4. Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences (IVEM), Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG), University of Groningen, Groningen, 9747 AG, the Netherlands;5. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1 - A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria |
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| Abstract: | Human appropriation of land for food production has fundamentally altered the Earth system, with impacts on water, soil, air quality, and the climate system. Changes in population, dietary preferences, technology and crop productivity have all played important roles in shaping today’s land use. In this paper, we explore how past and present developments in diets impact on global agricultural land use. We introduce an index for the Human Appropriation of Land for Food (HALF), and use it to isolate the effects of diets on agricultural land areas, including the potential consequences of shifts in consumer food preferences. We find that if the global population adopted consumption patterns equivalent to particular current national per capita rates, agricultural land use area requirements could vary over a 14-fold range. Within these variations, the types of food commodities consumed are more important than the quantity of per-capita consumption in determining the agricultural land requirement, largely due to the impact of animal products and in particular ruminant species. Exploration of the average diets in the USA and India (which lie towards but not at global consumption extremes) provides a framework for understanding land use impacts arising from different food consumption habits. Hypothetically, if the world were to adopt the average Indian diet, 55% less agricultural land would be needed to satisfy demand, while global consumption of the average USA diet would necessitate 178% more land. Waste and over-eating are also shown to be important. The area associated with food waste, including over-consumption, given global adoption of the consumption patterns of the average person in the USA, was found to be twice that required for all food production given an average Indian per capita consumption. Therefore, measures to influence future diets and reduce food waste could substantially contribute towards global food security, as well as providing climate change mitigation options. |
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| Keywords: | Food security Land use Dietary change Agriculture Waste Food supply chain |
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