Gobbled up by Agriculture

Saikat Mondal

9 hours ago

Gobbled Up by Agriculture: Grasslands and Wetlands Facing Rapid Conversion

A new global study has revealed that agriculture is expanding far beyond forests and is increasingly “gobbling up” grasslands, savannas and wetlands across the world, raising fresh concerns about biodiversity loss and climate change.

While agriculture has long been identified as the main driver of deforestation—especially in regions like the Amazon—recent research shows that non-forest ecosystems are disappearing even faster. Scientists found that grasslands, savannas and wetlands are being converted to farmland and pasture at nearly four times the rate of forests, highlighting a largely overlooked environmental crisis.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined global land-use changes between 2005 and 2020. It found that livestock production is the primary force behind this expansion, with vast areas being turned into grazing pasture or cropland used to produce feed such as corn and soybeans. About 50 percent of converted non-forest land becomes pasture, while 27 percent is used for food crops and 17 percent for feed crops.

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Grasslands are particularly important ecosystems because they cover more of Earth’s surface than any other non-ice land and store roughly 34 percent of terrestrial carbon, making them crucial for climate regulation. Wetlands, though converted at a slower rate, are also major carbon sinks and play a key role in water filtration and flood control.

Experts warn that the destruction of these ecosystems often goes unnoticed compared to forest loss, leaving them underprotected in global conservation policies. Researchers say understanding where and why these landscapes are being converted is essential to designing policies that balance food production with environmental protection.

With global demand for meat and agricultural commodities rising, scientists stress that stronger land-use planning and sustainable farming practices will be vital to prevent further loss of these critical ecosystems.