Researchers at the Guangdong University of Technology in China have released a dataset that links global trade in major staple crops like wheat, soybean, rice, and maize with data on where and how those crops are produced, in order to estimate where biodiversity loss occurs as food moves through international trade. The dataset combines country-to-country trade records from the UN with agricultural production data and biodiversity-loss coefficients that approximate species loss associated with land-use change, covering the period from 1995 to 2022. This makes it possible to see how biodiversity loss linked to crop production can occur in one country as a result of food demand in another—for example, where rising global demand for soybeans has been associated with forest conversion in parts of Brazil and Argentina. The dataset allows researchers to examine long-term patterns and identify trade routes linked to higher ecological pressure.
Image Credits: Renaldo Matamoro
