The global food system lies at the center of some of today’s most urgent environmental challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and deforestation. Yet it also offers one of our greatest opportunities: the chance to reforest vast areas of the planet by rethinking what we eat.

Nearly half of the world’s habitable land is currently used for agriculture. Even more striking, 77 percent of that land is dedicated to livestock while only providing 17 percent of the world’s calories. This imbalance highlights the profound inefficiency of animal agriculture. Raising animals for food requires immense resources (land, water, and energy) and produces substantial greenhouse gas emissions.

In contrast, plant-based food systems are far more efficient. Producing food directly from plants uses significantly less land, water, and energy while emitting fewer greenhouse gases. In fact, if the world shifted to plant-based diets, we could reduce agricultural land use by 75 percent. This change would relieve immense environmental pressure and open the door to large-scale rewilding and reforestation.

The land that would be freed by such a dietary transition presents an extraordinary opportunity. A landmark study published in Science, “The Global Tree Restoration Potential,” estimates that reforesting 0.9 billion hectares globally could store up to 200 gigatons of carbon, or roughly 25 percent of the atmospheric carbon pool. Remarkably, this area is equivalent to about one-fourth of the land currently used for livestock production.

Forests are among the earth’s most powerful natural carbon sinks. Through photosynthesis, trees absorb carbon dioxide and lock it in their biomass and soils. Reforesting at scale could significantly slow climate change, buying critical time for technological and policy solutions to decarbonize our energy systems.

But reforestation is about more than just carbon—it’s also about restoring life.

Forests are home to more than 80 percent of the world’s terrestrial species. When forests are cleared for pasture or monoculture crops for livestock feed, biodiversity suffers. Reforesting degraded land and reducing the footprint of animal agriculture could help restore lost habitats, protect endangered species, and rebuild vital ecosystems.

To grasp the scale of what’s been lost, consider this: ten thousand years ago, forests covered roughly 57 percent of the earth’s land surface, or about six billion hectares. Today, that figure has dropped to just 38 percent, or approximately four billion hectares. Much of this loss has occurred in recent centuries, driven primarily by agricultural expansion, which still accounts for 90 percent of deforestation today.

Reversing this trend is possible. But it requires more than just changes in policy and land management. It requires us to completely rethink what we eat.

The good news? Change begins with something as simple and personal as our daily food choices. Plant-based diets not only reduce environmental impact but also promote human health, lowering the risk of many chronic diseases.

This isn’t just a dietary shift: it’s a climate and biodiversity solution. If enough people transition toward plant-based eating, we could restore forests on a global scale, prevent the extinction of countless species, and remove massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.

The potential is vast. By rethinking what we put on our plates, we could help regrow a portion of the two billion hectares of forest we’ve lost and, in doing so, help shape a more sustainable, balanced, and biodiverse planet.