Farming Strategies to Protect Biodiversity

To protect biodiversity, a meta-analysis finds that agriculture should use a combination of biodiversity-friendly approaches and protected areas. For decades, scientists have debated how agriculture can both feed the world and safegaurd biodiversity. Should farms be managed in a way that allows non-food species to thrive alongside crops and livestock, an approach known as “land sharing?” Or should agriculture be maximized to produce the highest yield achievable in the smallest space possible, enabling other lands to be set aside for conservation, in what is known as “land sparing?” Eva Augustiny and colleagues conducted a systematic review of 57 empirical peer-reviewed studies on this question and found that neither land sparing nor land sharing strategies alone can effectively balance agricultural production with biodiversity conservation.