Climate change

Study: Grasslands Disappearing Four Times Faster Than Forests

Is CO₂ greening the planet or are grasslands and wetlands vanishing faster than forests can expand?

Published FEB 27

Study: Grasslands Disappearing Four Times Faster Than Forests

Story

Above: Grassy plain vegetation at Canastra Range National Park in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Image credit: Jose Caldas/Brazil Photos/LightRocket/Getty Images

The Facts

According to research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, between 2005 and 2020, natural non-forest ecosystems including grasslands and wetlands were converted to agricultural land at a rate nearly four times that of lands with tree cover exceeding 5 meters.
PNAS
PHYS
Brazil accounted for 13% of global natural non-forest ecosystem conversion during the study period, while Russia, India, China and the United States each contributed approximately 6% of the total conversion.
PNAS
Inside Climate News
Globally, 50% of non-forest ecosystem conversion was linked to pasture expansion, while 27% was converted to cropland for food production, 17% to animal feed crops and 6% to other uses, including bioenergy.
PNAS
World Resources Institute
Grasslands are estimated to hold between 20% and 35% of land-based carbon stores, while wetlands contain another 20% to 30% of terrestrial carbon despite covering much less area than grasslands.
World Resources Institute
Inside Climate News
In Brazil and Argentina, approximately 80% of feed crops grown on converted non-forest lands were destined for export markets, while globally, 32% of feed crops and 20% of all crops from converted land were exported.
PNAS
ECI, University of Oxford
The research identified maize, soy, rapeseed, cotton and sugarcane as major commodity crops associated with non-forest ecosystem conversion, with these products commonly used for animal feed, biofuels and other non-food applications.
World Resources Institute
Businessgreen

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Climate-concerned narrative

Grasslands and wetlands are disappearing nearly four times faster than forests, driven by livestock farming and export agriculture that destroy ecosystems that store up to 35% of global carbon. These conversions threaten biodiversity hotspots and critical ecosystem services while wealthy nations fuel demand through international supply chains. Conservation efforts fixated solely on forests allow other vital habitats to vanish unchecked.

Senckenberg

Climate-skeptic narrative

The planet is greening at an unprecedented rate, with CO₂ fertilization driving a massive expansion of vegetation equivalent to twice the continental United States. Warmer temperatures are expanding habitable zones, pushing forests into former tundra and transforming frozen wastelands into productive land. Framing CO₂ as a pollutant ignores the reality that nature thrives in a warm, bountiful world rather than the cold, famine-prone conditions of the 1850s Little Ice Age.

Peter Clack on X

Narrative C

The claim that "livestock farming destroys ecosystems" is one of the most successful 21st century propaganda pieces, as it often overlooks a critical distinction: much of the world's agricultural land is unsuitable for crop production due to terrain, climate or soil limitations. Such land may be unfit for cereals or vegetables, yet well suited to grazing. When you remove livestock from marginal agricultural land, you end up with unused grassland that produces zero human nutrition.