Ritchie, H. & Roser, M. Land use. Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/land-use (2019).
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Global Land Outlook 2nd Edition (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2022). This comprehensive report summarizes land system challenges, showcases transformative policies and practices, and points to cost-effective pathways to scale up SLM.
Tomalka, J. et al. Stepping Back from the Precipice: Transforming Land Management to Stay within Planetary Boundaries (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 2024).
Van Dijk, M., Morley, T., Rau, M. L. & Saghai, Y. A meta-analysis of projected global food demand and population at risk of hunger for the period 2010–2050. Nat. Food 2, 494–501 (2021).
Olsson, L. et al. in Climate Change and Land: IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) 345–436 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).
Andreeva O., Sebentsov A., Kust G. & Kolosov V. The Nexus Between Land Degradation Climate Change, and Migration in Central Asia (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Institute of Geography of Russian Academy of Sciences, 2022).
Vlek, P. L., Khamzina, A. & Tamene, L. D. (eds). Land Degradation and the Sustainable Development Goals: Threats and Potential Remedies (International Center for Tropical Agriculture, 2017).
von Braun, J., Afsana, K., Fresco, L. O., Hassan, M. & Torero, M. Food system concepts and definitions for science and political action. Nat. Food 2, 748–750 (2021).
Arneth, A. et al. Post-2020 biodiversity targets need to embrace climate change. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 30882–30891 (2020).
Mahecha, M. D. et al. Biodiversity loss and climate extremes — study the feedbacks. Nature 612, 30–32 (2022).
Pörtner, H.-O. et al. Overcoming the coupled climate and biodiversity crises and their societal impacts. Science 380, eabl4881 (2023).
Pettorelli, N. et al. Time to integrate global climate change and biodiversity science‐policy agendas. J. Appl. Ecol. 58, 2384–2393 (2021).
Suraci, J. P. et al. Achieving conservation targets by jointly addressing climate change and biodiversity loss. Ecosphere 14, e4490 (2023).
Cowie, A. L., Penman, T. D., Lehmann, J. & Twomlow, S. Towards sustainable land management in the drylands: scientific connections in monitoring and assessing dryland degradation, climate change and biodiversity. Land Degrad. Develop. 22, 248–260 (2011).
Thomas, R. J. Addressing land degradation and climate change in dryland agroecosystems through sustainable land management. J. Environ. Monit. 10, 595–603 (2008).
Akhtar-Schuster, M. et al. Unpacking the concept of land degradation neutrality and addressing its operation through the Rio Conventions. J. Environ. Manage. 195, 4–15 (2017).
De Bremond, A. The emergence of land systems as the nexus for sustainability transformations. Ambio 50, 1299–1303 (2021).
Meyfroidt, P. et al. Ten facts about land systems for sustainability. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2109217118 (2022). This paper synthesizes key insights from land system science about land use, highlighting its complexity, trade-offs and global interconnectedness, while offering guiding principles for achieving sustainability.
Swathes of Earth are turning into desert — but the degradation can be stopped. Nature 623, 666 (2023).
COP29 Presidency. COP presidencies launch “Rio trio”. COP29 https://cop29.az/en/media-hub/news/cop-presidencies-launch-rio-trio (2024).
IISD. Summary of the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification: 2–13 December 2024. Earth Negot. Bull. 4, 313 (2024).
WWF. Aligning the Rio Conventions for Sustainable Food Systems Transformation (World Wildlife Fund, 2024).
Goffner, D., Sinare, H. & Gordon, L. J. The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative as an opportunity to enhance resilience in Sahelian landscapes and livelihoods. Reg. Environ. Change 19, 1417–1428 (2019).
Verdone, M. & Seidl, A. Time, space, place, and the Bonn challenge global forest restoration target. Restor. Ecol. 25, 903–911 (2017).
Poore, J. & Nemecek, T. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science 360, 987–992 (2018). This meta-analysis addresses the multiple environmental impacts of 40 different agricultural goods around the world across multiple food production systems.
Smith, P. et al. Which practices co-deliver food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and combat land degradation and desertification? Glob. Change Biol. 26, 1532–1575 (2020). This analysis of multiple practices addresses the global land challenges of climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, combating land degradation and desertification, and delivering food security.
FAO. Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2013).
World Food Programme. 5 Facts about food waste and hunger. WFP https://www.wfp.org/stories/5-facts-about-food-waste-and-hunger (2024).
UNCCD Global Mechanism. Investing in Land’s Future: Financial Needs Assessment for UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2024).
Sanborn, K. Reducing Food Waste and Hunger through Policies that Enable Food Redistribution (Center For Health Law and Policy Innovation, 2023).
de Hooge, I. E., van Dulm, E. & van Trijp, H. C. M. Cosmetic specifications in the food waste issue: supply chain considerations and practices concerning suboptimal food products. J. Clean. Prod. 183, 698–709 (2018).
Martínez-Valderrama, J., Guirado, E. & Maestre, F. T. Discarded food and resource depletion. Nat. Food 1, 660–662 (2020).
Haynes Stein, A. & Brinkley, C. Farm to food bank: exploring the ties between local food producers and charitable food assistance. Rural Sociol. 88, 682–707 (2023).
Schmidhuber, J. & Tubiello, F. N. Global food security under climate change. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 19703–19708 (2007).
Xhoxhi, O., Pedersen, S. M. & Lind, K. M. How does the intermediaries’ power affect farmers-intermediaries’ trading relationship performance? World Dev. Perspect. 10, 44–50 (2018).
Anastasiou, K., Baker, P., Hadjikakou, M., Hendrie, G. A. & Lawrence, M. A conceptual framework for understanding the environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods and implications for sustainable food systems. J. Clean. Prod. 368, 133155 (2022).
Lane, M. M. et al. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. Br. Med. J. 384, e077310 (2024).
Pineda, E. et al. Effectiveness and policy implications of health taxes on foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. Food Policy 123, 102599 (2024).
Boletín Oficial del Estado. Ley 1/2025, de 1 de abril, de prevención de las pérdidas y el desperdicio alimentario. BOE https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2025/04/01/1/dof/spa/pdf (2025).
UNEP. Food Waste Index Report 2024 (United Nations Environment Programme, 2024).
Casonato, C., Garcia-Herrero, L., Caldeira, C. & Sala, S. What a waste! Evidence of consumer food waste prevention and its effectiveness. Sustain. Prod. Consum. 41, 305–319 (2023).
Montgomery, D. R. Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 13268–13272 (2007).
Sanderman, J., Hengl, T. & Fiske, G. J. Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 9575–9580 (2017).
Sanz, M. J. et al. Sustainable Land Management Contribution to Successful Land-based Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: a Report of the Science-Policy Interface (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2017).
Hartmann, L. et al. Assessing the contribution of land and water management approaches to sustainable land management and achieving land degradation neutrality. Front. Sustain. Resour. Manag. 3, 1423078 (2024).
Cowie, A. L. et al. Land in balance: the scientific conceptual framework for Land Degradation Neutrality. Environ. Sci. Policy 79, 25–35 (2018). This work introduces the aims and scientific conceptual framework of the LDN approach put forwards by the UNCCD.
Lowder, S. K., Sánchez, M. V. & Bertini, R. Which farms feed the world and has farmland become more concentrated? World Dev. 142, 105455 (2021).
Altieri, M. A. & Nicholls, C. I. in Sustainable Agriculture Reviews: Volume 11 (ed. Lichtfouse, E.) 1–29 (Springer Netherlands, 2012).
Britwum, K. & Demont, M. Food security and the cultural heritage missing link. Glob. Food Secur. 35, 100660 (2022).
Giller, K. E. et al. Small farms and development in sub-Saharan Africa: farming for food, for income or for lack of better options? Food Secur. 13, 1431–1454 (2021).
Jayne, T. S., Snapp, S., Place, F. & Sitko, N. Sustainable agricultural intensification in an era of rural transformation in Africa. Glob. Food Secur. 20, 105–113 (2019).
Stringer, L. C. et al. Adaptation and development pathways for different types of farmers. Environ. Sci. Policy 104, 174–189 (2020). This paper identifies several illustrative adaptation and development pathways that allow farmers to adapt and develop while being climate resilient and contributing minimal emissions.
Mor, T. Towards a Gender-Responsive Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UN-Women, 2019).
Namubiru-Mwaura, E. Gender and Land Restoration (UNCCD Global Land Outlook Working Paper, 2021).
G20 Global Land Initiative. G20 Global Land Initiative. Reducing Land Degradation (G20 Global Land Initiative, 2023).
Gann, G. D. et al. International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration. Second edition. Restor. Ecol. 27, S1–S46 (2019).
Allen, C. et al. Delivering an enabling environment and multiple benefits for land degradation neutrality: stakeholder perceptions and progress. Environ. Sci. Policy 114, 109–118 (2020).
Verburg, P. H. et al. Creating an Enabling Environment for Land Degradation Neutrality and its Potential Contribution to Enhancing Well-being, Livelihoods and the Environment (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2019).
FAO. Principles for Ecosystem Restoration to Guide the United Nations Decade 2021–2030 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2021).
Woroniecki, S. et al. Nature unsettled: how knowledge and power shape ‘nature-based’ approaches to societal challenges. Glob. Environ. Change 65, 102132 (2020).
Rakotonarivo, O. S. et al. Resolving land tenure security is essential to deliver forest restoration. Commun. Earth Environ. 4, 179 (2023).
Sunderlin, W. D. et al. Creating an appropriate tenure foundation for REDD+: the record to date and prospects for the future. World Dev. 106, 376–392 (2018).
Stanturf, J. A. & Mansourian, S. Forest landscape restoration: state of play. R. Soc. Open Sci. 7, 201218 (2020).
Löfqvist, S. et al. How social considerations improve the equity and effectiveness of ecosystem restoration. BioScience 73, 134–148 (2023).
Crona, B. I. et al. Four ways blue foods can help achieve food system ambitions across nations. Nature 616, 104–112 (2023).
Golden, C. D. et al. Aquatic foods to nourish nations. Nature 598, 315–320 (2021).
Stetkiewicz, S. et al. Seafood in food security: a call for bridging the terrestrial-aquatic divide. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5, 703152 (2022).
Merrie, A. Oceans and the Global Food System (Food Planet Prize, 2021).
Duarte, C. M. et al. Will the oceans help feed humanity? BioScience 59, 967–976 (2009).
Liu, C. & Ralston, N. V. C. Seafood and health: what you need to know? Adv. Food Nutr. Res. 97, 275–318 (2021).
Farmery, A. K. et al. Food for all: designing sustainable and secure future seafood systems. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 32, 101–121 (2022).
Koehn, J. Z., Allison, E. H., Golden, C. D. & Hilborn, R. The role of seafood in sustainable diets. Environ. Res. Lett. 17, 035003 (2022).
Bianchi, M. et al. Assessing seafood nutritional diversity together with climate impacts informs more comprehensive dietary advice. Commun. Earth Environ. 3, 188 (2022). This article provides an assessment of the nutrient density and greenhouse gas emissions, weighted by production method, that result from fishing and farming of globally important species.
Rajapakse, N. & Kim, S.-K. Nutritional and digestive health benefits of seaweed. Adv. Food Nutr. Res. 64, 17–28 (2011).
Spillias, S. et al. Reducing global land-use pressures with seaweed farming. Nat. Sustain. 6, 380–390 (2023). This article illustrates the potential of seaweed production to reduce the environmental impacts of terrestrial agriculture.
Bhuyan, M. S. Ecological risks associated with seaweed cultivation and identifying risk minimization approaches. Algal Res. 69, 102967 (2023).
Parlasca, M. C. & Qaim, M. Meat consumption and sustainability. Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ. 14, 17–41 (2022).
Adesogan, A. T., Havelaar, A. H., McKune, S. L., Eilittä, M. & Dahl, G. E. Animal source foods: sustainability problem or malnutrition and sustainability solution? Perspective matters. Glob. Food Secur. 25, 100325 (2020).
Castonguay, A. C. et al. Navigating sustainability trade-offs in global beef production. Nat. Sustain. 6, 284–294 (2023).
Manzano-Baena P. & Salguero-Herrera C. Mobile Pastoralism in the Mediterranean: Arguments and Evidence for Policy Reform and to Combat Climate Change (Mediterranean Consortium for Nature & Culture, 2018).
Liao, C., Clark, P. E., DeGloria, S. D. & Barrett, C. B. Complexity in the spatial utilization of rangelands: pastoral mobility in the Horn of Africa. Appl. Geogr. 86, 208–219 (2017).
Thomas, M., Pasquet, A., Aubin, J., Nahon, S. & Lecocq, T. When more is more: taking advantage of species diversity to move towards sustainable aquaculture. Biol. Rev. 96, 767–784 (2021).
Beveridge, M. C. M. et al. Meeting the food and nutrition needs of the poor: the role of fish and the opportunities and challenges emerging from the rise of aquaculture. J. Fish Biol. 83, 1067–1084 (2013).
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health. Summary for Policymakers (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 2024).
Cánovas-Molina, A. & García-Frapolli, E. Socio-ecological impacts of industrial aquaculture and ways forward to sustainability. Mar. Freshw. Res. 72, 1101–1109 (2021).
Naylor, R. L. et al. A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture. Nature 591, 551–563 (2021).
Salin, K. R. & Arome Ataguba, G. in Sustainable Aquaculture (eds Hai, F. I., Visvanathan, C. & Boopathy, R.) 1–62 (Springer International Publishing, 2018).
Mizuta, D. D., Froehlich, H. E. & Wilson, J. R. The changing role and definitions of aquaculture for environmental purposes. Rev. Aquac. 15, 130–141 (2023).
Duarte, C. M., Bruhn, A. & Krause-Jensen, D. A seaweed aquaculture imperative to meet global sustainability targets. Nat. Sustain. 5, 185–193 (2022).
Ragasa, C., Charo-Karisa, H., Rurangwa, E., Tran, N. & Shikuku, K. M. Sustainable aquaculture development in sub-Saharan Africa. Nat. Food 3, 92–94 (2022).
FAO. Pulses: Nutritious Seeds for a Sustainable Future (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016).
Omuse, E. R. et al. The global atlas of edible insects: analysis of diversity and commonality contributing to food systems and sustainability. Sci. Rep. 14, 5045 (2024).
European Commission. Carbon border adjustment mechanism. European Commission https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism_en (2024).
Wilkes, A., Reisinger, A., Wollenberg, E. & van Dijk, S. Measurement, Reporting and Verification of Livestock GHG Emissions by Developing Countries in the UNFCCC: Current Practices and Opportunities for Improvement. CCAFS Report No. 17 (CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security and Global Research Alliance for Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, 2017).
White, A. C., Faulkner, J. W., Conner, D. S., Méndez, V. E. & Niles, M. T. “How can you put a price on the environment?” Farmer perspectives on stewardship and payment for ecosystem services. J. Soil Water Conserv. 77, 270–283 (2022).
Guth, M., Stępień, S., Smędzik-Ambroży, K. & Matuszczak, A. Is small beautiful? Technical efficiency and environmental sustainability of small-scale family farms under the conditions of agricultural policy support. J. Rural Stud. 89, 235–247 (2022).
Rossi, J. & Garner, S. A. Industrial farm animal production: a comprehensive moral critique. J. Agric. Environ. Ethics 27, 479–522 (2014).
Lin, B. B. et al. Effects of industrial agriculture on climate change and the mitigation potential of small-scale agro-ecological farms. CABI Rev. 6, 1–18 (2011).
Altieri, M. A., Funes-Monzote, F. R. & Petersen, P. Agroecologically efficient agricultural systems for smallholder farmers: contributions to food sovereignty. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 32, 1–13 (2012).
Akanmu, A. O., Akol, A. M., Ndolo, D. O., Kutu, F. R. & Babalola, O. O. Agroecological techniques: adoption of safe and sustainable agricultural practices among the smallholder farmers in Africa. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 7, 1143061 (2023).
Scown, M. W., Brady, M. V. & Nicholas, K. A. Billions in misspent EU agricultural subsidies could support the sustainable development goals. One Earth 3, 237–250 (2020).
Potter, C. et al. The effects of environmental sustainability labels on selection, purchase, and consumption of food and drink products: a systematic review. Environ. Behav. 53, 891–925 (2021).
De Marinis, P. & Sali, G. Participatory analytic hierarchy process for resource allocation in agricultural development projects. Eval. Program Plann. 80, 101793 (2020).
Dzvimbo, M. A., Monga, M. & Mashizha, T. M. Revisiting women empowerment: a review of policies on land use and food security in Zimbabwe. Adv. Soc. Sci. Res. J. 5, 4 (2018).
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. ICCD/COP(16)/24/Add.1. UNCCD https://www.unccd.int/official-documents/cop-16-riyadh-saudi-arabia-2024/documents/iccdcop1624add1 (2024).
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Land Degradation Neutrality Fund. UNCCD https://www.unccd.int/land-and-life/land-degradation-neutrality/impact-investment-fund-land-degradation-neutrality (2024).
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of the United Nations. The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly 76th session: 2021–2022. UN https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3983329?v=pdf (2022).
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Report of the Conference of the Parties on its sixteenth session, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2 to 13 December 2024. Part two: action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth session. UNCCD https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2024-12/cop24add1%20-%20advance_0.pdf (2024).
Elsässer, J. P., Hickmann, T., Jinnah, S., Oberthür, S. & Van de Graaf, T. Institutional interplay in global environmental governance: lessons learned and future research. Int. Environ. Agreem. Polit. Law Econ. 22, 373–391 (2022).
Bärnthaler, R., Novy, A., Arzberger, L., Krisch, A. & Volmary, H. The power to transform structures: power complexes and the challenges for realising a wellbeing economy. Humanit. Soc. Sci. Commun. 11, 558 (2024).
Verburg, P. H., Mertz, O., Erb, K.-H., Haberl, H. & Wu, W. Land system change and food security: towards multi-scale land system solutions. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 5, 494–502 (2013).
Semenchuk, P. et al. Relative effects of land conversion and land-use intensity on terrestrial vertebrate diversity. Nat. Commun. 13, 615 (2022).
Read, Q. D., Hondula, K. L. & Muth, M. K. Biodiversity effects of food system sustainability actions from farm to fork. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2113884119 (2022).
Tchonkouang, R. D., Onyeaka, H. & Miri, T. From waste to plate: exploring the impact of food waste valorisation on achieving zero hunger. Sustainability 15, 10571 (2023).
Levin, B. in Biodiversity Islands: Strategies for Conservation in Human-Dominated Environments (ed. Montagnini, F.) 61–88 (Springer International Publishing, 2022).
Fenster, T. L., Oikawa, P. Y. & Lundgren, J. G. Regenerative almond production systems improve soil health, biodiversity, and profit. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5, 664359 (2021).
Paramesh, V. et al. Impact of sustainable land-use management practices on soil carbon storage and soil quality in Goa State, India. Land Degrad. Dev. 33, 28–40 (2022).
Critchley, W., Harari, N., Mollee, E., Mekdaschi-Studer, R. & Eichenberger, J. Sustainable land management and climate change adaptation for small-scale land users in Sub-Saharan Africa. Land 12, 1206 (2023).
Strassburg, B. B. et al. Global priority areas for ecosystem restoration. Nature 586, 724–729 (2020).
Raes, L., Mittempergher, D., Piaggio, M. & Siikamäki, J. Nature-Based Recovery Can Create Jobs, Deliver Growth and Provide Value for Nature (IUCN, 2021).
Ritchie, H. & Roser, M. If the world adopted a plant-based diet, we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4 to 1 billion hectares. Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets (2024)
Mbow, C. et al. in Climate Change and Land: an IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (eds. Shukla. P. R. et al.) 437–550 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).
Sims, N. C. et al. Good Practice Guidance. SDG Indicator 15.3.1, Proportion of Land that is Degraded over Total Land Area. Version 2.0 (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2022).
Conservation International. Trends.Earth. https://www.conservation.org/about/trends-earth (2022).
Orr, B. J. et al. Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality: a Report of the Science-Policy Interface (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2017).
Sims, N. C. et al. Developing good practice guidance for estimating land degradation in the context of the United Nations sustainable development goals. Environ. Sci. Policy 92, 349–355 (2019).
UNCCD. Report of the conference of the parties on its eleventh session, held in Windhoek from 16 to 27 September 2013. Part two: action taken United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. UNCCD https://www.unccd.int/official-documents/cop-11-windhoek-2013/iccdcop1123add1 (2013).
Feng, S., Zhao, W., Zhan, T., Yan, Y. & Pereira, P. Land degradation neutrality: a review of progress and perspectives. Ecol. Indic. 144, 109530 (2022).
Gonzalez-Roglich, M. et al. Synergizing global tools to monitor progress towards land degradation neutrality: Trends.Earth and the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies sustainable land management database. Environ. Sci. Policy 93, 34–42 (2019).
ESA. Land Cover CCI product user guide version 2. Tech. Rep. http://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/download/ESACCI-LC-Ph2-PUGv2_2.0.pdf (ESA, 2017).
Poggio, L. et al. SoilGrids 2.0: producing soil information for the globe with quantified spatial uncertainty. Soil 7, 217–240 (2021).
Didan, K. MOD13Q1 MODIS/Terra vegetation indices 16-day L3 global 250m SIN grid V006. NASA Earth Data https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13Q1.006 (2015).
Vu, Q. M., Le, Q. B., Frossard, E. & Vlek, P. L. Socio-economic and biophysical determinants of land degradation in Vietnam: an integrated causal analysis at the national level. Land Use Pol. 36, 605–617 (2014).
Anthony, T. The impact of population growth on land degradation, case of Rwamagana district (2000–2020). Int. J. Innov. Sci. Res. Technol. 8, 2248–2270 (2023).
Weldeabzgi, G. & Gebre, A. Rapid population growth as foremost cause of land degradation in Ethiopia: a review. J. Environ. Earth Sci. 11, 8–15 (2021).
National Research Council. Population and Land Use in Developing Countries: Report of a Workshop (The National Academies Press, 1993).
Smith, N. W., Fletcher, A. J., Millard, P., Hill, J. P. & McNabb, W. C. Estimating cropland requirements for global food system scenario modeling. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.1063419 (2022).
Ritchie, H., Rosado, P. & Roser, M. Environmental impacts of food production. Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food (2022).
FAO. The state of food and agriculture. FAO https://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/1245425/ (2019).
Mahtta, R. et al. Urban land expansion: the role of population and economic growth for 300+ cities. Npj Urban Sustain. 2, 5 (2022).
UNEP-WCMC & IUCN. Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, 2020).
Project Drawdown. Reduced food waste. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/reduced-food-waste (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Regenerative annual cropping. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/regenerative-annual-cropping (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Bamboo production. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/bamboo-production (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Coastal wetland restoration. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/coastal-wetland-restoration (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Silvopasture. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/silvopasture (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Peatland protection and rewetting. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/peatland- protection-and-rewetting (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Temperate forest restoration. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/temperate-forest-restoration (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Tree plantations. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/tree-plantations-on-degraded-land (2017–2020).
Project Drawdown. Tropical forest restoration. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/tropical-forest-restoration (2017–2020).
FAO. Agricultural production statistics 2010–2023. FAO https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd3755en (2024).
Khan, F. A., Bhat, S. A. & Narayan, S. Storage Methods for Fruits and Vegetables (Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, 2017).
Project Drawdown. Seaweed farming. Drawdown https://drawdown.org/solutions/seaweed-farming (2017–2020).
Nuñez, E. Wild seafood has a lower carbon footprint than red meat, cheese, and chicken, according to latest data. Oceana https://oceana.org/blog/wild-seafood-has-lower-carbon-footprint-red-meat-cheese-and-chicken-according- latest-data/ (2021).
Ripple, W. J. et al. Ruminants, climate change and climate policy. Nat. Clim. Change 4, 2–5 (2014).
