The challenge of feeding the world while conserving half the planet

Amid widespread concerns about biodiversity loss, a single clear conservation message is engaging leading conservationists: the proposal to give half the surface of the Earth back to nature. Depending on the landscape conservation strategy, we find that, globally, 15-31% of cropland, 10-45% of pasture land, 23-25% of non-food calories and 3-29% of food calories from crops could be lost if half of Earth's terrestrial ecoregions were given back to nature.