Around the world, hundreds of millions of acres of land are being abandoned due to what’s known as “rural outmigration,” or people leaving for urban centers.
Around the world, hundreds of millions of acres of land are being abandoned due to what’s known as “rural outmigration,” or people leaving for urban centers.
Some people leave in search of economic prosperity. Others are forced out due to conflict or the effects of climate change. Together with globalization and mechanization, these population shifts are changing the economics of farming in these areas, causing less productive lands to be abandoned.
Some of these croplands eventually regenerate into natural habitats, helping both to increase biodiversity and absorb atmospheric carbon. While environmentalists have been optimistic for this process to provide opportunities to restore habitats and sequester carbon, this is unlikely to happen without policy interventions, according to a new study in Science Advances, which shows that much of the land is eventually recultivated.
“As people move from rural areas into cities, there is a chance for wildlife and the climate to gain ground — literally — as abandoned farms and pastures revert back to forests and grasslands,” said study co-author David Wilcove, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and public affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI). “Our work shows that this is not happening because the ‘abandoned’ lands are being rapidly recultivated.”
Read more at: Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
