Conservation: Limits of Land Sparing

摘要

According to B. Phalan Etal("Reconciling Food Production and Biodiversity Conservation: Land sharing and land sparing compared," Reports, 2 September, p. 1289), land sparing-protecting some land and farming the rest intensively-saves biodiversity more effectively than land sharing-protecting less land but farming the remainder with wildlife-friendly techniques. The authors qualify their conclusion, saying that it hinges on proper implementation and may not be transferable and that intensification-increasing the harvest yield- could be achieved through higher inputs of knowledge and labor rather than chemicals. These and other considerations severely limit land sparing in practice.