Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

Current conservation policies risk accelerating biodiversity loss

Three approaches that aim to cut the harms of agriculture — land sharing, rewilding and organic farming — risk driving up food imports and causing environmental damage overseas. An alternative approach is both effective and cheaper.
  1. Ian Bateman

    1. Ian Bateman is professor of environmental economics at the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP), University of Exeter Business School, Exeter, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Andrew Balmford

    1. Andrew Balmford is professor of conservation science at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Six tea pickers remove weeds using tools at an organic tea plantation farm

Tea pickers in Sri Lanka remove weeds from an organic tea plantation. Credit: Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP via Getty

With agriculture the main driver of the habitat loss and degradation that underpin the global biodiversity crisis1, governments worldwide have implemented policies to lessen farming’s impact on the environment. Meanwhile, landowners, organizations interested in the financing of biodiversity conservation and certain non-governmental groups, including conservation bodies, have been pushing for land-use changes that benefit nature.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 618, 671-674 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01979-x

References

  1. IPBES. Summary for Policymakers of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2019).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bateman, I. J. & Balmford, B. Land Use Policy 79, 293–300 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Massimino, D. et al. BirdTrends 2022: Trends in Numbers, Breeding Success and Survival for UK Breeding Birds (British Trust for Ornithology, 2023).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Lenzen, M. et al. Nature 486, 109–112 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Fuchs, R., Brown, C. & Rounsevell, M. Nature 586, 671–673 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Searchinger, T. D., James, O., Dumas, P., Kastner, T. & Wirsenius, S. Nature 612, 27–30 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Smith, L. G., Kirk, G. J. D., Jones, P. J. & Williams, A. G. Nature Commun. 10, 4641 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Haddad, N. M. et al. Sci. Adv. 1, e1500052 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Balmford, A. J. Zool. 315, 79–109 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Collas, L. et al. People Nature 5, 228–240 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Finch, T. et al. J. Appl. Ecol. 58, 655–666 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. The Royal Society. Multifunctional Landscapes: Informing a Long-Term Vision for Managing the UK’s Land (Royal Society, 2023).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Paul, C., Techen, A.-K., Robinson, J. S. & Helming, K. J. Cleaner Prod. 227, 1054–1067 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Furtom, H., Sauer, J. & Jensen, M. S. Public Choice 140, 479–500 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kahneman, D. et al. Science 312, 1908–1910 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Bateman, I. J. et al. Science 341, 45–50 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Meyfroidt, P., Lambin, E. F., Erb, K.-H. & Hertel, T. W. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sust. 5, 438–444 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bateman, I. J. et al. People Nature 5, 271–301 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Day, B. & Couldrick, L. Payment for Ecosystem Services Pilot Project: The Fowey River Improvement Auction (Univ. East Anglia & Westcountry Rivers Trust, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links