Dr Peter Alexander | The University of Edinburgh

Senior Lecturer in Global Food Security

School of Geosciences
Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems

Tel: +44 (0)131 650 2537
Email: peter.alexander@ed.ac.uk
Web: Edinburgh Research Explorer profile

Street: Institute of Geography, Drummond Street
City: Edinburgh
Post code: EH8 9XP

Street: Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems
The University of Edinburgh
Easter Bush Campus
City: Midlothian
Post code: EH25 9RG

Biography

Background

Increases in changes in climate, increases in human populations, and changes in socioeconomic conditions means that the global land use system will need to adapt to provide the world with food, timber, and other resources. The extent and locations of agriculture and forestry will shift, farmers will change the kinds of crops they grow, and new fertilization and irrigation patterns will emerge. These land use changes may conflict with plans to achieve carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems as a climate change mitigation measure, and likely further increase pressure on biodiversity.

To better understand this web of interconnections, in collaboration with others, I have been leading the development of the Land System Modular Model (LandSyMM). This includes more detailed yield data and responses to intensity of production (e.g. fertiliser and irrigation use) and a greater spatial specificity than previously possible in other approaches, as well as representing change dynamics in food demand and international trade. This model has already been used to quantify the impacts of the changes on ecosystem service indicators such as the land carbon balance, runoff, and nitrogen pollution, and explore the impact of future changes in diet on habitat availability in biodiversity hotspots, as well as the reverse—looking at the food security implications of different land conservation scenario.

Research Projects

Research Projects on Edinburgh Research Explorer

Research

Research summary

My work focuses on the social, economic and ecological interactions within the food and land use systems, typically applying data and computationally intensive techniques, such as agent-based modelling. The work considers interactions between climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as how the globalisation of the food system creates teleconnections between actions in one location having consequences in others. The role of international trade in reducing or exacerbating vulnerabilities to shocks, including geopolitical shocks, is a particular interest. How land use and food system changes interact with dietary choices and human health, e.g. patterns of food consumption influencing environmental outcomes and environmental changes impacting nutrition and health, are also considered in my research.

I am a lead author for the 2022 IPCC (WGII) report assessing the Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability to climate change.

Research activities

View all 4 activities on Research Explorer

Publications

Global and regional health and food security under strict conservation scenarios 3 Feb 2022 In: Nature Sustainability
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00844-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
A New Modelling Approach to Adaptation-Mitigation in the Land System 2 Feb 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86211-4
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (E-pub ahead of print)
Impact of regional bans of highly hazardous pesticides on agricultural yields: the case of Kerala 19 Nov 2021 In: Agriculture & Food Security
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press)
How does market power affect the resilience of food supply? Sep 2021 In: Global Food Security, vol. 30
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100556
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Predicting the abatement rates of soil organic carbon sequestration management in Western European vineyards using random forest regression 1 Jun 2021 In: Cleaner Environmental Systems, vol. 2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesys.2021.100024
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Soil organic carbon sequestration rates in vineyard agroecosystems under different soil management practices: A meta-analysis 29 Dec 2020 In: Journal of Cleaner Production
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125736
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)
The global environmental paw print of pet food 1 Nov 2020 In: Global Environmental Change, vol. 65
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102153
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Impacts of rising temperatures and farm management practices on global yields of 18 crops 15 Sep 2020 In: Nature Food
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00148-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Modelling food security: Bridging the gap between the micro and the macro scale 1 Jul 2020 In: Global Environmental Change, vol. 63, pp. 102085
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102085
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Exploring global food system shocks, scenarios and outcomes 27 Jun 2020 In: Futures
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2020.102601
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)
UK food system resilience tested by Covid-19 11 May 2020 In: Nature Food
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0082-1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment/debate (E-pub ahead of print)
Meeting the food security challenge for nine billion people in 2050: What impact on forests? 1 May 2020 In: Global Environmental Change, vol. 62
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102056
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Impacts of future agricultural change on ecosystem service indicators 23 Apr 2020 In: Earth System Dynamics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-357-2020
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Modelling alternative management scenarios of economic and environmental sustainability of beef finishing systems 20 Apr 2020 In: Journal of Cleaner Production, pp. 119888
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119888
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Comparing the impact of future cropland expansion on global biodiversity and carbon storage across models and scenarios 27 Jan 2020 In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0189
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
A bio-economic model for cost analysis of alternative management strategies in beef finishing systems. 26 Nov 2019 In: Agricultural systems
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102713
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)
The vulnerabilities of agricultural land and food production to future water scarcity 1 Sep 2019 In: Global Environmental Change, vol. 58, pp. 101944
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101944
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
The role of global dietary transitions for safeguarding biodiversity 1 Sep 2019 In: Global Environmental Change, vol. 58
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101956
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Transforming agricultural land use through marginal gains in the food system 5 Jul 2019 In: Global Environmental Change
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101932
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Beyond land cover change: Towards a new generation of Land Use Models 4 Jun 2019 In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 38, pp. 77-85
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.05.002
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)

View all 48 publications on Research Explorer

This article was published on 27 May, 2022