The Global Land Squeeze: Managing the Growing Competition for Land

A World Resources Institute report analyzing the increasing competition for land driven by global demand for food, wood, and shelter, and its impact on carbon storage and biodiversity.

• Projections for 2050 indicate that land twice the size of India will be converted for agricultural use, and an area equivalent to the continental United States will be required to satisfy the growing demand for wood.
• Using the biophysical Carbon Harvest Model (CHARM), researchers determined that current climate strategies have underestimated the carbon and biodiversity costs associated with expanding wood harvests and agriculture, resulting in policies that move land away from optimal uses toward those that significantly increase emissions.
• WRI proposes a four-pronged strategy to manage finite land sustainably: producing more food and wood on existing land (including increasing crop/grazing yields and denser cities), protecting natural ecosystems, reducing demand for land-intensive products (such as reducing food waste and shifting high-income diets away from beef and milk), and restoring native habitats, specifically targeting inefficient tropical pasture lands on high slopes.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). The Global Land Squeeze: Managing the Growing Competition for Land. https://www.wri.org/research/global-land-squeeze-managing-growing-competition-land

Chicago

World Resources Institute. The Global Land Squeeze: Managing the Growing Competition for Land. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/global-land-squeeze-managing-growing-competition-land.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=The Global Land Squeeze: Managing the Growing Competition for Land |url=https://www.wri.org/research/global-land-squeeze-managing-growing-competition-land |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendglobal, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{The Global Land Squeeze: Managing the Growing Competition for Land}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/global-land-squeeze-managing-growing-competition-land}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }