Balancing land use for conservation, agriculture, and renewable energy
Growing demand for food coupled with climate commitments to reduce emissions will result in more land development for agriculture and renewable energy. Simultaneously, conserving land for biodiversity and nature's contributions to people (NCP) is imperative for achieving international climate, sustainable development, and biodiversity goals. Meeting these interconnected objectives requires efficient land allocation across sectors. Here, we present a flexible, multiple-objective framework for strategically allocating land to mitigate threats to biodiversity and NCP under climate change while supporting development. Application of this framework at a global scale through country-level targets shows that if future development is planned without consideration of nature, demands for land could impact nearly 1 million km<sup>2</sup> of high-priority conservation areas. Multi-sector planning can mitigate potential conflict, reducing carbon loss and species exposure. Our findings underscore the need to conserve critical areas for nature, reduce land demand for food and energy, and intentionally coordinate land use across sectors.
Authors
- Anand Roopsind (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4682-1774)
- Amy E. Frazier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4552-4935)
- Alex Zvoleff
- Christina M. Kennedy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8902-8728)
- Rachel Neugarten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0647-0516)
- Brian Joseph Enquist (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6124-7096)
- David Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0379-1800)
- Grace C. Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8290-119X)
- Richard Schuster (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3191-7869)
- Pablo A. Marquet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6369-9339)
- James R. Oakleaf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5048-8356)
- Justin A. Johnson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9903-1787)
- Tim Beringer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5567-8738)
- Ashley Larsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7491-9245)
- Rafael Loyola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5323-2735)
- Lee Hannah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5180-9588)
- Cameryn Brock
- Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer
- Joseph Kiesecker
- Patrick R. Roehrdanz
Institutions
- The Nature Conservancy (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Santa Fe Institute (US)
- Conservation International (US)
- Wildlife Conservation Society (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CL)
- Cornell University (US)
- Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (US)
- Complex Engineering System Institute (CL)
- Nature Conservancy of Canada (CA)
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE)
- Carleton University (CA)
- Universidade Federal de Goiás (BR)
- University of Chile (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-03-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69952-6
- Primary Topic
- Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
- University of California, Santa Barbara