Issues / Land and water
rivers, oceans and open land
Land and water use
How much land and fresh water our food choices use.
Quick answer
Farming shapes landscapes, rivers, and oceans. Livestock account for about 80% of agricultural land, and WWF's 2024 Living Planet Report names habitat loss and degradation, driven mainly by the food system, as the most commonly reported threat to wildlife, whose monitored populations are down an average of 73% since 1970.
Last reviewed . Sources are listed below.
the basics
What this issue covers
Every food needs land, water, or both. Farming shapes landscapes, rivers, and oceans, and the choices we make about food affect the places wild animals live.
At the Humane Choices Foundation (HCF), we explain how farming uses land and fresh water, what happens to rivers and oceans near farms and fisheries, and how habitat loss connects to what we eat. Agriculture uses about 70% of the world's freshwater withdrawals, and livestock take up about 80% of agricultural land.
When forests, wetlands, and grasslands are cleared for grazing and feed crops, wild animals lose their homes. Habitat loss, driven mainly by the food system, is the most commonly reported threat to wildlife, and monitored populations have fallen by an average of 73% since 1970.
dig in
Questions worth asking
Our guides on each question are being written. Every figure will come with a source.
- How much land does farming use, and for what?
- How does water use differ between foods?
- What happens to rivers and oceans near farms and fisheries?
- How does habitat loss affect wild animals?
follow the thread
Where animals come in
Land and water tie all animals together. The same fields, rivers, and coastlines feed farmed animals, shelter wild ones, and supply the fish we eat, so a change in one place ripples through all of them.
Wildlife and captive wild animals
Habitat loss, driven mainly by the food system, is the most commonly reported threat to wildlife.
Aquatic animals
Rivers and oceans carry the effects of farming and fishing, and only 62.3% of marine stocks are fished within sustainable levels.
Farmed land animals
Grazing land and feed crops for livestock use about 80% of the world's agricultural land.
by the numbers
What the evidence says
Every figure links to its source. See all of them on our facts and sources page.
80%
Our World in Data, Global land for agriculture (FAO data; Poore and Nemecek, 2018) Recent estimate
73%
WWF, Living Planet Report 2024 (with the Zoological Society of London) 1970 to 2020
70%
Our World in Data, Water Use and Stress Recent estimate
quick answers
Frequently asked questions
How much agricultural land is used for livestock?
Counting grazing land and cropland used for feed, about 80% of the world's agricultural land, according to Our World in Data's analysis of FAO and Poore and Nemecek data.
What is habitat loss?
When natural habitats such as forests, wetlands, and grasslands are cleared or degraded, leaving fewer places for wild animals to live.
How does food connect to wildlife decline?
WWF's Living Planet Report 2024 says habitat loss and degradation, driven primarily by the food system, is the most commonly reported threat to wildlife populations worldwide.
How much fresh water does farming use?
Globally, about 70% of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, according to Our World in Data.
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