IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fsc/fstech/7.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Assessment of global land availability: land supply for agriculture

Author

Listed:
  • Maryia Mandryk
  • Jonathan Doelman
  • Elke Stehfest

Abstract

We developed a new assessment method of the land supply for agriculture, on a grid scale basis and per region, which takes into account both biophysical, institutional and socio-economic parameters of land availability and suitability for conversion into agricultural production. In many world regions most of the available and suitable land has already been included in agricultural production. Our assessment focuses on the issue of remaining (i.e. potentially available and suitable) agricultural land per region. We first estimated the total available and biophysically suitable land by excluding areas with certain biophysical restrictions (i.e. marginally productive areas, permafrost, steep slopes, wetlands, built-up area). Secondly, we applied institutional parameters of land suitability to exclude protected areas and - in some regions - also intact forests. Thirdly, we used a suitability index to define the potentially available land that is also suitable for conversion to agricultural production from a socio-economic perspective. Subsequently, we subtracted the current agricultural land from the total available and suitable land to derive the remaining (i.e. potentially available and suitable) land per region. As well, we provided the information on the quality and suitability of the available land, based on classes of crop productivity. We also discuss the distribution of global grasslands, in both intensive and extensive agricultural systems, and the effects of this distribution on potentially available land per region. Our results are applicable for global change analysis and modelling. Accurate estimation of agricultural land currently in use influences the possible impact on regional land use change and associated land use emissions from implementation of land-based mitigation schemes, such as REDD, or other policies (e.g. RED).

Suggested Citation

  • Maryia Mandryk & Jonathan Doelman & Elke Stehfest, 2015. "Assessment of global land availability: land supply for agriculture," FOODSECURE Technical papers 7, LEI Wageningen UR.
    • Handle: RePEc:fsc:fstech:7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www3.lei.wur.nl/FoodSecurePublications/TP7_Mandryk.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruno Lanz & Simon Dietz & Timothy Swanson, 2017. "Global Population Growth, Technology, And Malthusian Constraints: A Quantitative Growth Theoretic Perspective," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 58(3), pages 973-1006, August.
    2. Wirsenius, Stefan & Azar, Christian & Berndes, Göran, 2010. "How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 621-638, November.
    3. Havlík, Petr & Schneider, Uwe A. & Schmid, Erwin & Böttcher, Hannes & Fritz, Steffen & Skalský, Rastislav & Aoki, Kentaro & Cara, Stéphane De & Kindermann, Georg & Kraxner, Florian & Leduc, Sylvain & , 2011. "Global land-use implications of first and second generation biofuel targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 5690-5702, October.
    4. Anthony Young, 1999. "Is there Really Spare Land? A Critique of Estimates of Available Cultivable Land in Developing Countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 3-18, March.
    5. Lotze-Campen, Hermann & Popp, Alexander & Beringer, Tim & Müller, Christoph & Bondeau, Alberte & Rost, Stefanie & Lucht, Wolfgang, 2010. "Scenarios of global bioenergy production: The trade-offs between agricultural expansion, intensification and trade," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(18), pages 2188-2196.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. PHILIPPIDIS George & Helming John & Tabeau Andrzej, 2017. "Land Supply Elasticities," JRC Research Reports JRC106592, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Smeets Kristkova, Zuzana & Achterbosch, Thom & Kuiper, Marijke, 2019. "Healthy diets and reduced land pressure: Towards a double gain for future food systems in Nigeria," Conference papers 333030, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    3. Tabeau, Andrzej & van Meijl, Hans & Overmars, Koen P. & Stehfest, Elke, 2017. "REDD policy impacts on the agri-food sector and food security," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 73-87.
    4. Zuzana Smeets-Kristkova & Thom Achterbosch & Marijke Kuiper, 2019. "Healthy Diets and Reduced Land Pressure: Towards a Double Gain for Future Food Systems in Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-31, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Batidzirai, B. & Smeets, E.M.W. & Faaij, A.P.C., 2012. "Harmonising bioenergy resource potentials—Methodological lessons from review of state of the art bioenergy potential assessments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(9), pages 6598-6630.
    2. van Wijk, Mark T., 2014. "From global economic modelling to household level analyses of food security and sustainability: How big is the gap and can we bridge it?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 378-388.
    3. Meiyappan, Prasanth & Dalton, Michael & O’Neill, Brian C. & Jain, Atul K., 2014. "Spatial modeling of agricultural land use change at global scale," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 291(C), pages 152-174.
    4. Havlik, Petr & Herrero, Mario & Mosnier, Aline & Obersteiner, Michael & Schmid, Erwin & Fuss, Sabine & Schneider, Uwe A., 2011. "Production system based global livestock sector modeling: Good news for the future," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114552, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Brausmann, Alexandra & Bretschger, Lucas, 2018. "Economic development on a finite planet with stochastic soil degradation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-19.
    6. Kriegler, Elmar, 2011. "Comment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 594-596, July.
    7. Weng, Yuwei & Chang, Shiyan & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can, 2019. "Exploring the impacts of biofuel expansion on land use change and food security based on a land explicit CGE model: A case study of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 514-525.
    8. Shortall, O.K., 2013. "“Marginal land” for energy crops: Exploring definitions and embedded assumptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 19-27.
    9. O. Borodina, S. Kyryziuk, V. Yarovyi, Yu. Ermoliev, T. Ermolieva, 2016. "Modeling local land uses under the global climate change," Economy and Forecasting, Valeriy Heyets, issue 1, pages 117-128.
    10. Lochhead, Kyle & Ghafghazi, Saeed & Havlik, Petr & Forsell, Nicklas & Obersteiner, Michael & Bull, Gary & Mabee, Warren, 2016. "Price trends and volatility scenarios for designing forest sector transformation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 184-191.
    11. Tiziano Gomiero, 2016. "Soil Degradation, Land Scarcity and Food Security: Reviewing a Complex Challenge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-41, March.
    12. David Bryngelsson & Fredrik Hedenus & Daniel J. A. Johansson & Christian Azar & Stefan Wirsenius, 2017. "How Do Dietary Choices Influence the Energy-System Cost of Stabilizing the Climate?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, February.
    13. Bruno Lanz & Simon Dietz & Timothy Swanson, 2016. "Economic growth and agricultural land conversion under uncertain productivity improvements in agriculture," CIES Research Paper series 43-2016, Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute.
    14. Kargbo, Hannah & Harris, Jonathan Stuart & Phan, Anh N., 2021. "“Drop-in” fuel production from biomass: Critical review on techno-economic feasibility and sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    15. Hussain, C.M. Iftekhar & Norton, Brian & Duffy, Aidan, 2017. "Technological assessment of different solar-biomass systems for hybrid power generation in Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1115-1129.
    16. Alice Favero & Robert Mendelsohn, 2013. "Evaluating the Global Role of Woody Biomass as a Mitigation Strategy," Working Papers 2013.37, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    17. B. Henderson & A. Golub & D. Pambudi & T. Hertel & C. Godde & M. Herrero & O. Cacho & P. Gerber, 2018. "The power and pain of market-based carbon policies: a global application to greenhouse gases from ruminant livestock production," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 349-369, March.
    18. Witzke, Peter & Van Doorslaer, Benjamin & Huck, Ingo & Salputra, Guna & Fellmann, Thomas & Drabik, Dusan & Weiss, Franz & Leip, Adrian, 2014. "Assessing the importance of technological non-CO2 GHG emission mitigation options in EU agriculture with the CAPRI model," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182676, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Weizhong Su & Gaobin Ye, 2014. "Differences of Soil Fertility in Farmland Occupation and Supplement Areas in the Taihu Lake Watershed during 1985–2010," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, May.
    20. Diermeier, Matthias & Schmidt, Torsten, 2014. "Oil price effects on land use competition: an empirical analysis," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q24 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Land
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fsc:fstech:7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Barbara van der Hout (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ledlonl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.