Answer: More arable land.
Arable land - land cultivated for crops like wheat, maize, and rice that are replanted after each harvest. It includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops, temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow.
The Guardian reported in December 2015 that the world has lost a third of its arable land due to erosion or pollution in the past 40 years, with potentially disastrous consequences as global demand for food soars.
A new research has calculated that nearly 33% of the world’s adequate or high-quality food-producing land has been lost at a rate that far outstrips the pace of natural processes to replace diminished soil.
The University of Sheffield’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, which undertook the study by analysing various pieces of research published over the past decade, said the loss was “catastrophic” and the trend close to being irretrievable without major changes to agricultural practices.
Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes. It also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out.
Tip! Find out more about the warming planet, how it's affecting us, and what's at stake at National Geographic.