Land use

Cumulative CO2 emissions from land-use change (as of 2021). Emissions from land-use change can be positive or negative depending on whether these changes emit (positive, brown on the map) or sequester (negative) carbon (green on the map).

Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there.[1] The following categories are used for land use: forest land, cropland (agricultural land), grassland, wetlands, settlements and other lands.[2]: 2914  The way humans use land, and how land use is changing, has many impacts on the environment.[3][4] Effects of land use choices and changes by humans include for example urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation, land degradation and desertification.[5] Land use and land management practices have a major impact on natural resources including water, soil, nutrients, plants and animals.[6][7]

Land use change is "the change from one land-use category to another".[2]: 2914  Land-use change, together with use of fossil fuels, are the major anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide, a dominant greenhouse gas.[8] Human activity is the most significant cause of land cover change, and humans are also directly impacted by the environmental consequences of these changes.[9] For example, deforestation (the systematic and permanent conversion of previously forested land for other uses) has historically been a primary facilitator of land use and land cover change.[10][11]

The study of land change relies on the synthesis of a wide range of data and a diverse range of data collection methods.[12] These include land cover monitoring and assessments, modeling risk and vulnerability, and land change modeling.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Meyfroidt, P.; Roy Chowdhury, R.; de Bremond, A.; Ellis, E. C.; Erb, K. -H.; Filatova, T.; Garrett, R. D.; Grove, J. M.; Heinimann, A.; Kuemmerle, T.; Kull, C. A. (2018-11-01). "Middle-range theories of land system change" (PDF). Global Environmental Change. 53: 52–67. Bibcode:2018GEC....53...52M. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.08.006. ISSN 0959-3780. S2CID 158366220.
  4. ^ Ellis, Erle C. (2021-10-18). "Land Use and Ecological Change: A 12,000-Year History". Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 46 (1): 1–33. doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-010822. ISSN 1543-5938. S2CID 244592514.
  5. ^ UN Land Degradation and Land Use/Cover Data Sources ret. 26 June 2007
  6. ^ Ameztegui, Aitor; Coll, Lluis; Brotons, Lluis; Ninot, J.M. (2016). "Land-use legacies rather than climate change are driving the recent upward shift of the mountain tree line in the Pyrenees" (PDF). Global Ecology and Biogeography. 25 (3): 263–273. Bibcode:2016GloEB..25..263A. doi:10.1111/geb.12407. hdl:10459.1/65151. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 9, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  7. ^ "Chapter 1 - Meaning of Land" (PDF). Global Land Outlook (Report). United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. 2017. p. 21. ISBN 978-92-95110-48-9. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :16 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :72 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Mayer, Audrey L.; Buma, Brian; Davis, Amélie; Gagné, Sara A.; Loudermilk, E. Louise; Scheller, Robert M.; Schmiegelow, Fiona K.A.; Wiersma, Yolanda F.; Franklin, Janet (2016-04-27). "How Landscape Ecology Informs Global Land-Change Science and Policy". BioScience. 66 (6): 458–469. doi:10.1093/biosci/biw035. hdl:11122/8174. ISSN 0006-3568.
  11. ^ Derouin, Sarah (2019). "Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects". livescience.com. Archived from the original on 2020-12-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  12. ^ Magliocca, Nicholas R.; Rudel, Thomas K.; Verburg, Peter H.; McConnell, William J.; Mertz, Ole; Gerstner, Katharina; Heinimann, Andreas; Ellis, Erle C. (February 2015). "Synthesis in land change science: methodological patterns, challenges, and guidelines". Regional Environmental Change. 15 (2): 211–226. Bibcode:2015REnvC..15..211M. doi:10.1007/s10113-014-0626-8. ISSN 1436-3798. PMC 4372122. PMID 25821402.