Combining mitigation strategies to increase co-benefits for biodiversity and food security. (14th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Prudhomme, Rémi; Palma, Adriana De; Dumas, Patrice; Gonzalez, Ricardo; Leadley, Paul; Levrel, Harold; Purvis, Andy; Brunelle, Thierry
• Is Part Of: Environmental research letters. Volume 15:Number 11(2020:Nov.)
• Publication Date: 2020-10-14
• Subjects: mitigation -- global scale -- land-use -- trade-off -- dietary change -- reforestation -- bioenergy -- food security -- biodiversity; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Research -- Periodicals; Environmental health -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abb10a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1748-9326

Abstract

Abstract: World agriculture needs to find the right balance to cope with the trilemma between feeding a growing population, reducing its impact on biodiversity and minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this paper, we evaluate a broad range of scenarios that achieve 4.3 GtCO2, eq /year GHG mitigation in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land-Use (AFOLU) sector by 2100. Scenarios include varying mixes of three GHG mitigation policies: second-generation biofuel production, dietary change and reforestation of pasture. We find that focusing mitigation on a single policy can lead to positive results for a single indicator of food security or biodiversity conservation, but with significant negative side effects on others. A balanced portfolio of all three mitigation policies, while not optimal for any single criterion, minimizes trade-offs by avoiding large negative effects on food security and biodiversity conservation. At the regional scale, the trade-off seen globally between biodiversity and food security is nuanced by different regional contexts.