A strategy of economic development takes too long. Encouraging migration elsewhere cannot deflect immigrants. Nature reserves cannot stop the hungry from clearing plots. And reserves for extractive but sustainable forestry support few people. On the other hand, maintaining or restoring productivity to eliminate the need to abandon land already cleared holds out hope.
Numbers can impart a misleading aura of accuracy.
And I have written more about major directions than about precise numbers. The setting for my commedia dell 'a rte about area spared is a reference, which I shall set at 2.8 billion ha of cropland. The magnitude of this figure can be grasped by our thinking of it as twice the present cropland. 2.8 Billion is six-tenths the present sum of cropland plus permanent pasture. It is one-fifth of the land of the world.