Editing Land use (section)

== Definition and categories ==
[[File:Land-use-australian-capital-territory-large.png|thumb|A graphic description of land use in the [[Australian Capital Territory]] as of 2017. Colours represent different uses.]]
[[File:Long-term-change-in-land-use.png|thumb|The development of global land use over the centuries and millennia: more and more of the world's habitable land is used for agriculture.]]
The [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]] defines the term ''land use'' as the "total of arrangements, activities and inputs applied to a parcel of land".<ref name=":2">IPCC, 2022: [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Annex-II.pdf Annex II: Glossary] [Möller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.)]. In: [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/ Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2897–2930, doi:10.1017/9781009325844.029.</ref>{{rp|2914}} The same report groups ''land use'' into the following categories: [[forest land]], cropland ([[agricultural land]]), [[grassland]], [[Wetland|wetlands]], [[Human settlement|settlements]] and ''other lands''.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|2914}} 

Another definition is that of the [[United Nations]]' [[Food and Agriculture Organization]]: "Land use concerns the products and/or benefits obtained from use of the land as well as the [[land management]] actions (activities) carried out by humans to produce those products and benefits."<ref name=":1">[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090808100750/http://www.fao.org/landandwater/agll/landuse/landusedef.stm FAO Land and Water Division] retrieved 14 September 2010</ref> 

As of the early 1990s, about 13% of the [[Earth]] was considered arable land, with 26% in pasture, 32% forests and woodland, and 1.5% urban areas.<ref name=":1" />

As of 2015, the total [[arable land]] is 10.7% of the land surface, with 1.3% being permanent cropland.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Bank arable land |url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.ZS/countries/1W?display=graph |access-date=October 19, 2015 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |archive-date=October 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002170510/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.ZS/countries/1w?display=graph |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=World Bank permanent cropland |url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.CROP.ZS/countries?display=graph |access-date=October 19, 2015 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |archive-date=July 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713131245/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.CROP.ZS/countries?display=graph |url-status=live}}</ref>

For example, the [[US Department of Agriculture]] has identified six major types of land use in the United States. Acreage statistics for each type of land use in the [[Contiguous United States|contiguous 48 states]] in 2017 were as follows:<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last1=Merrill |first1=Dave |last2=Leatherby |first2=Lauren |date=July 31, 2018 |title=Here's How America Uses Its Land |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-us-land-use/ |access-date=2018-08-05 |work=[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]]}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+US land use (2017)<ref name=":0" />
!Use
!acreage (M)
!km<sup>2</sup> (M)
!% of total
|-
|[[Pasture]]/[[Rangeland|range]]
|654
|2.647
|35
|-
|[[Forest]]
|538.6
|2.18
|28
|-
|[[Agricultural land|Cropland]]
|391.5
|1.584
|21
|-
|Special use
|168.8
|0.683
|9
|-
|Miscellaneous
|68.9
|0.279
|4
|-
|[[Urban area|Urban]]
|69.4
|0.281
|4
|-
|Total
|1,891
|7.653
|100
|}
''Special use'' areas in the table above include national parks (29 M acres) and state parks (15 M), wildlife areas (64.4 M), highways (21 M), railroads (3M), military bases (25 M), airports (3M) and a few others. ''Miscellaneous'' includes cemeteries, golf courses, marshes, deserts, and other areas of "low economic value". The total land area of the United States is 9.1 M km<sup>2</sup> but the total used here refers only to the contiguous 48 states, without Alaska etc.