The new competition for land: Food,energy, and climate change |
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| Authors: | Mark Harvey Sarah Pilgrim |
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| Institution: | 1. Centre for Research in Economic Sociology and Innovation, Sociology Department, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom;2. Department of Biology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom;1. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden;2. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria;3. Stockholm Environment Institute – US Centre, Davis, USA;4. Agricultural Research & Extension Unit, Quatre Bornes, Mauritius;5. Columbia University, NY, USA;6. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria;7. International Renewable Energy Agency, Bonn, Germany;8. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, NY, USA;9. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy;10. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany;1. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;2. Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Division of Horticultural Sciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany;3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;1. Technical University Berlin, D-10632 Berlin, Germany;2. International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA), A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria;1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, USA;2. Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;1. Water & Development Research Group (WDRG), Aalto University, Tietotie 1E, 02150 Espoo, Finland;2. International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (UNESCO), Hosted by the Federal Federal Institute of Hydrology, P.O. Box 200253, 56002 Koblenz, Germany;3. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Telegraphenberg A62, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany;4. Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany;5. The Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Building 48A, Linnaeus Way, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia;6. Institute of Environmental Engineering, Chair of Ecological System Design, ETH Zurich, 8039 Zurich, Switzerland;7. Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Von-Siebold-Strasse 8, 37075 Göttingen, Germany;8. Sustainability Science Group, School of Energy Systems, Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), Saimaankatu 11, 15140 Lahti, Finland;9. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA;10. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York City, NY 10025, USA |
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| Abstract: | The paper addresses the new competition for land arising from growing and changing demand for food when combined with increasing global demand for transport energy, under conditions of declining petro-chemical resources and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The paper starts from the premise of a ‘food, energy and environment trilemma’ (Tilman et al., 2009), where all demands to expand the area of cultivated land present high risks of increasing the carbon footprint of agriculture. Having reviewed the main drivers of demand for food and for liquid transport fuels, the paper weighs the controversies surrounding biofuels arising from food-price spikes, the demand for land, and consequent direct and indirect land-use change. It suggests that we need a more complex, and geographically differentiated, analysis of the interactions between direct and indirect land-use change. The paper then reviews evidence of land availability, and suggests that in addition to technical availability in terms of soil, water, and climate, political, social, and technological factors have significantly shaped the competition for land in different global regions, particularly the three major biofuel producing ones of the USA, Brazil and Europe. This point is further developed by reviewing the different innovation pathways for biofuels in these three regions. The main conclusion of this review is firstly that any analysis requires an integrated approach to the food-energy-environment trilemma, and secondly that strategic political direction of innovation and sustainability regulation are required to bring about major shifts in agriculture leading to sustainable intensification of cultivation (Royal Society, 2009), rather than the continued expansion of cultivated area. The consequent perspective is one of considerable global variety in technologies, agricultural productive systems, and use of natural resources. This contrasts sharply with the world of a dominant global and integrated technology platform based on petro-chemicals to which we have become accustomed. |
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