Pastures degraded – overuse and climate chaos to blame
Half the world’s natural pastureland has been degraded by overexploitation and the impact of climate chaos, putting food supplies in peril, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCDD). Rangelands include natural grasslands, savannas, wetlands, tundra, shrub lands and deserts.
In their latest report, UNCDD warns that while rangelands cover 54 per cent of all land, as much as 50 per cent of it is degraded, endangering a sixth of humanity’s food supply. Sadly, this report appears to favour traditional pastoralism (use of livestock) as a solution when we know that more than three-quarters of global agricultural land is already used for farming animals, despite meat and dairy making up a much smaller share of the world’s supply of protein and calories.
UNCCD. 2024. Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralism. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Bonn.
Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser. 2019. Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. Published online at OurWorldInData.org https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture
About the author
Dr. Justine Butler
Justine joined Viva! in 2005 after graduating from Bristol University with a PhD in molecular biology. After working as a campaigner, then researcher and writer, she is now Viva!’s head of research and her work focuses on animals, the environment and health. Justine’s scientific training helps her research and write both in-depth scientific reports, such as White Lies and the Meat Report, as well as easy-to-read factsheets and myth-busting articles for consumer magazines and updates on the latest research. Justine also recently wrote the Vegan for the Planet guide for Viva!’s Vegan Now campaign.
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