Up to 724 million hectares of "marginal" land – an area the size of Australia – is needed by 2050 to grow enough bioenergy crops to slow down climate change, according to Anne Larigauderie, the executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The report says that if current trends continue, global food production will need to increase from about 10 per cent today to 20 per cent in 2030. She said reforestation, afforestation and restoration of habitats would be more effective methods of offsetting climate change.
Up to 724 million hectares of "marginal" land – an area the size of Australia – is needed by 2050 to grow enough bioenergy crops to slow down climate change, according to Anne Larigauderie, the executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Speaking at a major UN biodiversity meeting in Egypt, Larigauderie said nobody knew where the urgently needed marginalised land would come from, and was concerned that biodiversity would suffer if so much land was turned over to bioenergy crops. She said reforestation, afforestation and restoration of habitats would be more effective methods of offsetting climate change.