When discussing Sustainiability , the abandonment of land is a significant topic to address. Over the past 50 years, the number of people moving from rural to urban areas has grown. By 2050, up to 68% of the world’s population could reside in or close to cities, up from the current 55%. Of course, there are many reasons why individuals choose to leave their rural communities and relocate to cities, such as socioeconomic and political change, the decline of subsistence farming, and environmental problems.
The land they leave behind, as a result of the ongoing decline in rural inhabitants, contributes to an increase in the number of abandoned farms and pastures, forestry areas, mines, factories, and even entire human communities.
Researchers have actively directed their attention to abandoned land—areas. Places where human activities have ceased—in order to gain a deeper understanding of how biodiversity is impacted and the implications for ecology and conservation.
“Due to problems like climate change and the fast shifting geopolitical scene, the causes that drive depopulation and, as a result, also land abandonment, are getting worse. For instance, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has already produced new hotspots for abandonment. Worldwide, abandonment is a significant process. The extent to which this is occurring globally compelled us to focus on the locations people have left behind as a potential source of long-term conservation solutions while simultaneously safeguarding human livelihoods, according to Daskalova.
Uninhabited Land Worldwide
The actual amount of uninhabited land worldwide is unknown, but the authors estimate that it might be as much as 400 million acres, or an area about half the size of Australia. The majority of this undeveloped land is located in the Northern Hemisphere, and the former Soviet Union accounts for over 117 million ha of that total.
Abandoned regions can have a beneficial or bad impact on biodiversity.The regions that experienced intensive farming and had low biodiversity are anticipated to witness the most significant improvements. The reintroduction of plant life, birds, and invertebrates capable of thriving in newly disrupted ecosystems is likely to be the initial observable transformations in these areas.
Large herbivores and even carnivores may return to the area if the abandonment of these agriculture fields is accompanied by evictions from the neighbourhood or the reintroduction of wildlife. However, the authors emphasize that not all abandoned land will naturally recover without assistance. They also highlight that certain areas previously subjected to intensive farming may never regain their original state.
Land abandonment can result in various detrimental consequences, not only for biodiversity but also for human culture and tradition. In regions where people have historically used the land for low-intensity or subsistence farming, their deep connections with the land have nurtured interdependent ecosystems.However, when individuals relocate, these ecosystems begin to deteriorate, resulting in the disappearance of locally rare species or the overgrowth of a few dominant species while other species suffer.
