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Landscape efficiency frontiers for biodiversity, climate mitigation, and net economic value.
Stephen Polasky1,2,3, Peter L Hawthorne4, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer5
1Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|June 4, 2026
Summary
Sustainable land management can significantly boost biodiversity, climate mitigation, and economic value. This study shows potential for over 200 billion tons of CO2 mitigation or $350 billion in economic gains without compromising conservation goals.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Agricultural Economics
- Climate Science
Background:
- Balancing biodiversity, climate, and economic development goals presents a significant challenge for national governments and international bodies.
- Current land use practices often fail to optimize these interconnected objectives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a framework for identifying sustainable land use strategies that maximize biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and economic returns.
- To quantify the potential gains from optimized land management across multiple objectives.
Main Methods:
- Integration of spatial biophysical and economic data.
- Application of optimization methods to define landscape efficiency frontiers.
- Analysis conducted across 146 countries.
Main Results:
- Identified significant potential for increasing biodiversity, climate mitigation, and economic value through improved land use and management.
- Demonstrated that climate mitigation could increase by over 200 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalents (>20%).
- Showcased potential for net economic value to increase by over US$350 billion (>80%) without compromising other objectives.
Conclusions:
- Optimized land management offers substantial co-benefits for biodiversity, climate, and economic development.
- The developed efficiency frontiers provide a roadmap for achieving multiple sustainability goals simultaneously.
- Policy and practice shifts towards integrated land use planning are crucial for realizing these potentials.
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