Sweeping changes in global food habits and land use could free an area larger than Africa, scientists report in Nature.
The study shows that restoring half of degraded land, cutting food waste by 75%, and replacing 70% of unsustainably produced red meat with sustainable seafood could together protect or recover 43.8 million sq km of land by 2050. That includes about 30 million sq km spared from shifting diets and waste reduction alone.
If no reforms are made, food production would need to rise by 34% by mid-century, further driving climate, biodiversity, and social crises, the paper warns.
Researchers call for three big steps: reviving 13 million sq km of degraded land through sustainable farming led by Indigenous and smallholder communities, slashing waste through storage and distribution reforms, and shifting diets in wealthy nations from land-intensive meat to ocean-based proteins such as fish, molluscs, and seaweed.
“This bold, integrated action plan offers a clear pathway to tackle land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change together,” said lead author Fernando T Maestre of KAUST.
The findings stress urgency: once soils lose fertility and biodiversity collapses, restoration becomes exponentially harder and more expensive.