An apparent "success story" of Amazonian forest conservation motivates a 6-years investigation of the land sparing hypothesis. Dr. Gregory Thaler's new book, Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World, reveals a tragic belief that agricultural intensification will solve our problems of enduring extraction of the world's biodiversity.

Episode Links

• Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World: Conservation and Displacement in the Global Tropics. Yale University Press
• Roser, Max. 2024. Why Is Improving Agricultural Productivity Crucial to Ending Global Hunger and Protecting the World’s Wildlife? Our World in Data.
• Phalan BT. 2018 What Have We Learned from the Land Sparing-sharing Model? Sustainability. 10(6):1760.
• Scientists calling the apparent Brazilian halting of deforestation "one of the great conservation successes of the twenty-first century," in Nature Food
• For an excellent review of the Land Sparing / Land Sharing debate see: Claire Kremen, Ilke Geladi (2024). Land-Sparing and Sharing: Identifying Areas of Consensus, Remaining Debate and Alternatives, Editor(s): Samuel M. Scheiner, Encyclopedia of Biodiversity (Third Edition), Academic Press, 435-451, ISBN 9780323984348. OR
• Land Spares Feel Their Oats, Land Food nexus
• Ritchie, Hannah. 2021. Palm Oil. Our World in Data.
• An example of the "active land sparing argument."
• The green revolution: Patel, R. (2013). The long green revolution. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 40(1), 1-63.
• An argument for the "forest transition model" as it applies to Brazilian forests.

Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus.

Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com or https://bsky.app/profile/adamcalo.bsky.social

Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

The Netherlands is a world leader in the industrial model of agriculture with speculation-driven land prices to match. Dido van Oosten of Stitchting Kapitaloceen presents a strategy for unravelling entrenched land relations from within a place where property is sacred.

Episode Links

• Nicholas Blomley: Performing Property: Making the World
• Mietshäuser Syndikat
• De Warmonderhof training program
• Land van Ons
• Vrijcoop collective housing project

Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus.

Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com or https://bsky.app/profile/adamcalo.bsky.social

Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

Recognizing how systems of private property control new visions of land use is one thing. Working on a political process of land reform is another. Bonnie VandeSteeg of the People's Land Policy discusses the recent program outlined in: Towards a Manifesto for Land Justice.

Episode Links

• Land for What? Land for Whom? by Dr Bonnie VandeSteeg
• Towards a Manifesto for Land Justice
• A People's food policy from the Land Worker's Alliance
• Scottish Land Commission
• Liverpool Land Commission
• Southwark Land Commission
• Land for the Many, 2019, UK Labour
• Right to Roam Campaign
• Dartmoor Wild Camping court case
• Climate Litigation Example
• Access and Property: A Question of Power and Authority. Sikor and Lund 2009
• Three Acres and a Cow
• The Diggers

Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus.

Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com or https://bsky.app/profile/adamcalo.bsky.social 

Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).