Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: Implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity, and human nutrition

Abstract

Global land systems are increasingly shaped by international trade of agricultural products. An increasing number of studies have quantified the implications of agricultural trade for single different aspects of land system sustainability. Bringing together studies across different sustainability dimensions, this review investigates how global agricultural trade flows have affected land systems and resulting impacts on food and nutrient availability, natural habitat conversion, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem carbon storage. We show that the effects of trade on land systems are highly heterogeneous across regions and commodities, revealing both synergies and trade-offs between improved nutrition and environmental conservation. For instance, we find that while the concentration of cereal production in North America has spared land, the increased demand for tropical products induced by trade has negatively impacted tropical ecosystems. Based on the current state of knowledge, we identify six pathways for how future research can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how agricultural trade can positively contribute to meeting global sustainability goals.

Forest Transitions in the United States, France and Austria: dynamics of forest change and their socio- metabolic drivers

“…They make promising cases for comparison due to their important differences in terms of (1) their land-use histories and (2) their historical roles in international trade networks: (1) In contrast to France and Austria, the United States experienced strong agricultural expansion in the late 19 th century in the context of White European settlement (Houghton & Hackler, 2000 ). (2) While Austria as a land-locked country and part of the Habsburg Monarchy was not a major trading partner in global markets in the 19 th century (Komlos, 1983 ), France and the United States have strong historical roots in colonial trade networks (Krausmann & Langthaler, 2019 ) and are major players in global agricultural trade today (Kastner et al, 2021 ).…”

Effects of Agri-Environment Schemes in Terms of the Results for Soil, Water and Soil Organic Matter in Central and Eastern Europe

“…Whereas other researchers focused rural development on regional dissimilarities [58], and sustainable water management locally [59], we heeded the advice by Kastner et al [60] with regard to the imperative of globalization. Therefore, we aimed to support the field by emphasizing soil conservation with regard to soil carbon sequestration under the agrienvironmental (AES) policy funded from European rural development.…”

Dietary Change and Global Sustainable Development Goals

“…Agricultural production to feed increasing world population with rising income levels and globalization is one of the leading causes of climate change, ongoing biodiversity extinctions, land degradation, water pollution and ecosystem service loss (Kastner et al, 2021). Yet, the diets of almost all nations lack in one or more micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) essential for human wellbeing (Chaudhary and Krishna, 2019;Chen et al, 2021).…”

“…Globally, food systems contribute to around one third of global GHG anthropogenic emissions from sources including land-use change (e.g., due to conversion of forests into farmland/pasture), the enteric fermentation of ruminants, fertilizer application, and energy use (Vermeulen et al, 2012;Crippa et al, 2021;Hong et al, 2021). Food production utilizes ∼40% of global ice-free land surface (Foley et al, 2011), which not only weakens the carbon sinks but also undermines the natural habitats of species and ecosystem intactness (Kastner et al, 2021).…”