Food system impacts on biodiversity

Summary

This review, published in Annual Review of Environment and Resources, provides a comprehensive synthesis of evidence on how the global food system drives biodiversity loss across multiple pathways, including habitat conversion, pollution, overexploitation, and climate change. Benton and colleagues assess the relative contribution of food production and consumption to biodiversity decline and identify intervention points within the food system where policy and practice changes could reduce environmental harm. The paper is likely to be influential in framing integrated food-environment policy, given its scope and publication venue.

UK applicability

While the review is global in scope, its findings are directly applicable to UK food and land use policy, particularly in the context of the Environment Act 2021, the UK's legally binding biodiversity net gain requirements, and Defra's Environmental Land Management schemes, which seek to reward farmers for nature recovery alongside food production.

Key measures

Biodiversity indicators (species richness, abundance, habitat loss); land use change metrics; food system driver attribution; dietary impact estimates

Outcomes reported

The paper examines how different components of the food system — including agricultural production, land use change, supply chains, and consumption patterns — contribute to biodiversity loss. It synthesises evidence on the relative magnitude of these drivers and potential levers for reducing harm to ecosystems.

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