Most wildlife habitats are being destroyed in countries with tropical forest, according to the study which looked at how wealthy countries’ demand for products such as beef, palm oil, timber and soya beans is destroying biodiversity hotspots elsewhere.
Consumption in wealthy countries including US and UK is responsible for 13% of global forest loss beyond their borders, study finds.
The Nature study on exporting extinction looked at the impacts of 24 high-income nations (which included the world’s largest economies) on more than 7,500 forest-dependent species of birds, mammals and reptiles.
“Global trade spreads out the environmental impacts of human consumption, in this case prompting the more developed nations to get their food from poorer, more biodiverse nations in the tropics, resulting in the loss of more species.”.
“As nations in temperate regions such as Europe conserve more land, the resulting shortfalls in food and wood production will have to be made up somewhere,” said lead author Prof Andrew Balmford from the University of Cambridge.
