Chapman, Abbie SA;
Green, Rosemary;
Hadida, Genevieve;
Kennard, Harry;
Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe;
Scheelbeek, Pauline;
Dalin, Carole;
(2025)
Biodiversity pressure from fruit and vegetable consumption in the United Kingdom, India and South Africa varies by product and growing location.
Nature Food
10.1038/s43016-025-01222-y.
(In press).
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Abstract
In many countries around the world, fruit and vegetable consumption must increase to improve human health, potentially pressuring local and global biodiversity. Here we use biodiversity-pressure metrics to compare the biodiversity pressures associated with fruits and vegetables consumed in the United Kingdom, India and South Africa. We found that biodiversity pressure for individual crops varies greatly with origin. In all three countries, imported fruits are typically associated with greater pressure than domestically grown fruits. Contrastingly, in India and South Africa, imported vegetables generally have a lower biodiversity pressure than domestically grown vegetables. Oranges, popular in the United Kingdom and South Africa, exert almost three times more biodiversity pressure than bananas-one of the most-consumed fruits in the United Kingdom and India. Our analysis illustrates the quantification of crop-specific biodiversity pressures and provides evidence for the development of more sustainable food systems.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Biodiversity pressure from fruit and vegetable consumption in the United Kingdom, India and South Africa varies by product and growing location |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s43016-025-01222-y |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01222-y |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10212809 |
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