Just under a quarter of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions come from our use of the land for things such as farming and forestry.

Policymakers have a historic opportunity to initiate massive change to land use at a time when a set of other circumstances may help with implementing it; a new public environmental awareness, changing technology and record low bond yields. And there is a way to direct finance into projects that protect, rather than degrade, nature, and reduce emissions.

To date, economic structures have encouraged the conversion of natural capital into financial capital. The result has been that a high proportion of viable land has been cleared for agriculture. While much of this has been rationalised by the need to create food security and keep food prices low, the reality is that the supply of grains now greatly exceeds our natural food demand. Over the course of the 20th century, mechanisation, hybrid seeds and intensive chemical use have boosted crop yields by three or four times.

However, over the last 20 years, policies on biofuels have compounded ecological damage. By subsidising and mandating the use of crops to make fuel, governments hoped to create additional demand in an attempt to support agricultural crop prices, which have struggled to keep up with inflation.

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