国际研究发现，牛肉和乳制品生产对全球农业生物多样性破坏的贡献率达41%，同时造成农业碳损失的29%[1]。由莱顿大学领导，与牛津大学和中国农业大学合作的这项研究表明，农业环保影响高度集中，仅占全球农地三分之一的区域导致了碳损失和生物多样性损失各占三分之二[1]。论文已发表于《自然食品》期刊[1]。
进一步分析显示，动物源食品相比植物源食品的环境成本明显更高，单位卡路里产生的碳损失高出8倍，生物多样性损失高出14倍[1]。目前农业已造成约3000亿吨储存碳的丧失，并推高了约14%物种的灭绝风险[1]。碳损失主要集中在12%的农地上，分布在南美、撒哈拉以南非洲和东南亚地区[1]。此外，约18%农地的碳和生物多样性损失与跨境贸易食品相关[1]。
研究提出了修复方案：恢复受影响最严重的30%农地可封存约170亿吨碳，相当于全球15年的化石燃料排放量[1]。莱顿大学教授保罗·贝伦斯指出，"气候和自然长期被当作分开的问题对待，但它们常是同一块土地上的同一个问题"[1]，强调了协同应对两大危机的必要性。
An international research initiative has found that beef and dairy production is responsible for 41% of biodiversity damage linked to global agricultural land [1]. The study reveals that while agriculture's environmental impact is concentrated in a limited number of regions, just one-third of farmland accounts for two-thirds of both global carbon loss and biodiversity loss [1]. Additionally, beef and dairy production contributes 29% of carbon losses from agricultural land [1].
The research, led by Leiden University in collaboration with Oxford University and China Agricultural University, highlights significant disparities in the ecological footprint of different food production systems [1]. Animal-based foods generate eight times more carbon loss and fourteen times more biodiversity loss per calorie compared to plant-based foods [1]. Carbon losses are particularly concentrated in 12% of agricultural land, primarily located in South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia [1]. Meanwhile, approximately 18% of agricultural land's carbon and biodiversity losses are associated with food products involved in cross-border trade [1].
Agriculture has already resulted in the loss of approximately 300 billion tons of stored carbon and is linked to about 14% of species extinction risk [1]. However, the researchers identified a potential pathway for mitigation: restoring the most severely affected 30% of farmland could sequester roughly 17 billion tons of carbon, equivalent to 15 years of global fossil fuel emissions [1]. Professor Paul Behrens, a contributor to the study, stated that "climate and nature have long been treated as separate issues, but they are often the same problem on the same piece of land" [1]. The findings were published in the journal Nature Food [1].