Earth system scientists at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have drawn the clearest line yet connecting consumers of agricultural produce in wealthier countries in Asia, Europe and North America with a growth in greenhouse gas emissions in less-developed nations, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere.
In a paper published today in Science, the researchers report that trade in land-use emissions – which come from a combination of agriculture and land-use change – increased from 5.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (when factoring in other greenhouse gas emissions such as nitrous oxide and methane) per year in 2004 to 5.8 gigatons in 2017.
In the paper, the scientists found that land-use change – including clearing of carbon-absorbing forests to create space for farms and pastures – contributed roughly three-quarters of the amount of greenhouse gases driven by the global trade of agricultural goods between 2004 and 2017.
“Roughly a quarter of all human greenhouse gas emissions are from land use,” said co-author Steven Davis, UCI professor of Earth system science. “Our work shows that large shares of these emissions in lower-income countries are related to consumption in more developed countries.”
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Image: For a new paper in the journal Science, Earth system scientists at UCI and other institutions tracked the greenhouse gas emissions embodied in the international trade of agricultural goods. They found a significant shift from 2004, when China was a net exporter of farm produce, to 2017, when that nation was the largest importer of Brazilian exports. (Credit: Steven Davis / UCI)