Land change models (LCMs) describe, project, and explain changes in and the dynamics of land use and land-cover. LCMs are a means of understanding ways that humans change the Earth's surface in the past, present, and future.
Land change models are valuable in development policy, helping guide more appropriate decisions for resource management and the natural environment at a variety of scales ranging from a small piece of land to the entire spatial extent.[1][2] Moreover, developments within land-cover, environmental and socio-economic data (as well as within technological infrastructures) have increased opportunities for land change modeling to help support and influence decisions that affect human-environment systems,[1] as national and international attention increasingly focuses on issues of global climate change and sustainability.
- ^ a b Brown, Daniel G.; et al. (2014). Advancing Land Change Modeling: Opportunities and Research Requirements. Washington, DC: The National Academic Press. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-0-309-28833-0.
- ^ Brown DG, Verburg PH, Pontius Jr RG, Lange MD (October 2013). "Opportunities to improve impact, integration, and evaluation of land change models". Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 5 (5): 452–457. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2013.07.012.