Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Reconstructing Terrestrial Paleoclimate and Paleoecology with Fossil Leaves Using Digital Leaf Physiognomy and Leaf Mass Per Area
Published on: October 25, 2024
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.
Abstract:
National governments and multilateral institutions face difficult challenges reconciling biodiversity, climate, and economic development goals. We integrated spatial biophysical and economic data with optimization methods to develop sustainable landscape efficiency frontiers that show maximally feasible combinations of biodiversity conservation, land-based climate mitigation, and net economic value from agricultural crops, livestock, and forestry production. We applied this approach in 146 countries and found large potential gains in biodiversity, climate, and economic development from improved land use and land management. Summing national-level results shows the potential to increase climate mitigation by more than 200 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalents (>20% increase) or net economic value by more than US$350 billion (>80% increase), without loss in other objectives.
Related Concept Videos
Threats to Biodiversity
Biodiversity and Human Values
What is Conservation Biology?
Habitat Fragmentation
Ecological Niches
Production Efficiency