New research in Nature on the impact of agriculture and land development shows that although greenhouse gas emissions have increased over time, total emissions from land use change were fairly low for a long time. That changed in about 2001, perhaps in large part due to aggressive deforestation in Southeastern Asia and the South American rainforests. Since then, the share of global emissions attributable to land use change has increased to as much as 25% of the total. This graphic shows that although agricultural production per unit of land has increased greatly, other trends offset that progress, leading to a net increase in emissions.
