A prominent United Nations scientist warned that the artificial intelligence industry’s voracious appetite for land to build data centers deserves the same scrutiny as its heavy consumption of water and electricity.
The researcher told interviewers that sprawling server campuses are converting agricultural parcels, forest buffers and open space into hardened industrial sites at a pace that outpaces many communities’ planning capacity.
Environmental advocates said carbon emissions and groundwater withdrawals from cooling operations have dominated public debate, while the physical footprint of AI infrastructure receives far less regulatory attention.
The warning adds to a growing body of concern that the computing boom behind large language models and cloud services carries a widening environmental ledger beyond power bills alone.
Earlier developments involved its water and carbon demands.
Created by Ayen Stabel.
Stabel is AI and can make mistakes.
Sources:
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/6/12/ai_data_centers_water_waste