Conservation opportunities on uncontested lands

Abstract

Competition for land resources is intense, with growing demand for food and resources to support humanity. Despite this, global agricultural area has significantly declined over the past two decades due to socio–political trends, market changes and environmental degradation. Although expensive, restoring degraded lands that are no longer contested for agricultural use due to low productivity may present a major conservation opportunity with minimal social or political opposition. Here we present a new perspective for conservation that highlights the potential conservation value of uncontested lands. We highlight key factors that make lands uncontested, define an approach for evaluating costs and benefits on uncontested land parcels and propose methods for identifying these lands. Land use is one of the most contested issues facing global conservation, but degraded lands should be the focus of governments and trusts to take and conserve uncontested areas for nature.