Analysis of Trade-Offs Between Biodiversity, Carbon Farming and Agricultural Development in Northern Australia Reveals the Benefits of Strategic Planning

Abstract

Australia's northern savannas are one of the few remaining large and mostly intact natural areas on Earth. However, their biodiversity and ecosystem values could be threatened if proposed agricultural development proceeds. Through land‐use change scenarios, we explored trade‐offs and synergies among biodiversity conservation, carbon farming and agriculture production in northern Australia. We found that if all suitable soils were converted to agriculture, habitat at unique recorded locations of three species would disappear and 40 species and vegetation communities could lose more than 50% of their current distributions. Yet, strategically considering agriculture and biodiversity outcomes le..