Editing Land use (section)

== Land use change ==
{{See also|Land change science}}
[[File:Global land use for food production, OWID statistic.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Global distribution of land used for agriculture]]
''Land use change'' is "the change from one land-use category to another".<ref name=":2" />{{rp|2914}} Land-use change, together with use of [[fossil fuel]]s, are the major [[Human impact on the environment|anthropogenic]] sources of carbon dioxide, a dominant [[greenhouse gas]].<ref name=":16">{{cite web |title=UN Report on Climate Change |url=http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203164304/http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf |archive-date=February 3, 2007 |access-date=June 25, 2007}}</ref>

Human activity is the most significant cause of land cover change, and humans are also directly impacted by the environmental consequences of these changes.<ref name=":72">{{Cite web |title=The Science of LCLUC {{!}} LCLUC |url=https://lcluc.umd.edu/content/science-lcluc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117170607/https://lcluc.umd.edu/content/science-lcluc |archive-date=2021-01-17 |access-date=2021-03-08 |website=lcluc.umd.edu}}</ref> Collective land use and land cover changes have fundamentally altered the functioning of key [[Earth system science|Earth systems]].<ref name=":112">{{Cite journal |last1=Lambin |first1=Eric F. |last2=Turner |first2=B.L. |last3=Geist |first3=Helmut J. |last4=Agbola |first4=Samuel B. |last5=Angelsen |first5=Arild |last6=Bruce |first6=John W. |last7=Coomes |first7=Oliver T. |last8=Dirzo |first8=Rodolfo |last9=Fischer |first9=Günther |last10=Folke |first10=Carl |last11=George |first11=P.S. |last12=Homewood |first12=Katherine |last13=Imbernon |first13=Jacques |last14=Leemans |first14=Rik |last15=Li |first15=Xiubin |date=2001-12-01 |title=The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378001000073 |url-status=live |journal=Global Environmental Change |language=en |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=261–269 |bibcode=2001GEC....11..261L |doi=10.1016/S0959-3780(01)00007-3 |issn=0959-3780 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705082119/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378001000073 |archive-date=2020-07-05 |access-date=2021-04-09 |last16=Moran |first16=Emilio F. |last17=Mortimore |first17=Michael |last18=Ramakrishnan |first18=P.S. |last19=Richards |first19=John F. |last20=Skånes |first20=Helle |last21=Steffen |first21=Will |last22=Stone |first22=Glenn D. |last23=Svedin |first23=Uno |last24=Veldkamp |first24=Tom A. |last25=Vogel |first25=Coleen |author25-link=Coleen Vogel |last26=Xu |first26=Jianchu}}</ref> For instance, human changes to land use and land cover have a profound impact on climate at a local and regional level, which in turn contributes to [[climate change]].<ref name=":112" />

Land use by humans has a long history, first emerging more than 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=Erle |last2=Goldewijk |first2=Kees Klein |last3=Gaillard |first3=Marie-José |last4=Kaplan |first4=Jed O. |last5=Thornton |first5=Alexa |last6=Powell |first6=Jeremy |last7=Garcia |first7=Santiago Munevar |last8=Beaudoin |first8=Ella |last9=Zerboni |first9=Andrea |date=2019-08-30 |title=Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |language=en |volume=365 |issue=6456 |pages=897–902 |bibcode=2019Sci...365..897S |doi=10.1126/science.aax1192 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=31467217 |s2cid=201674203 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10150/634688}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=Erle C. |last2=Gauthier |first2=Nicolas |last3=Goldewijk |first3=Kees Klein |last4=Bird |first4=Rebecca Bliege |last5=Boivin |first5=Nicole |last6=Díaz |first6=Sandra |last7=Fuller |first7=Dorian Q. |last8=Gill |first8=Jacquelyn L. |last9=Kaplan |first9=Jed O. |last10=Kingston |first10=Naomi |last11=Locke |first11=Harvey |date=2021-04-27 |title=People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |language=en |volume=118 |issue=17 |pages=e2023483118 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11823483E |doi=10.1073/pnas.2023483118 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=8092386 |pmid=33875599 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Human changes to land surfaces have been documented for centuries as having significant impacts on both [[Earth system science|earth systems]] and human well-being. [[Deforestation]] is an example of large-scale land use change. The deforestation of [[temperate region]]s since 1750 has had a major effect on [[land cover]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing |url=http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215200559/http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter2.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2007 |publisher=[[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]]}}</ref> The reshaping of landscapes to serve human needs, such as the deforestation for [[Agricultural land|farmland]], can have long-term effects on earth systems and exacerbate the causes of climate change.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last1=Turner |first1=B. L. |last2=Lambin |first2=Eric F. |last3=Reenberg |first3=Anette |date=2007 |title=The emergence of land change science for global environmental change and sustainability |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=104 |issue=52 |pages=20666–20671 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0704119104 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=2409212 |pmid=18093934 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 

Although the burning of fossil fuels is the primary driver of present-day climate change, prior to the [[Industrial Revolution]], [[deforestation]] and [[irrigation]] were the largest sources of human-driven [[greenhouse gas emissions]].<ref name=":02" /> Even today, 35% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide contributions can be attributed to land use or land cover changes.<ref name=":02" /> Currently, almost 50% of Earth’s non-ice land surface has been transformed by human activities, with approximately 40% of that land used for [[agriculture]], surpassing natural systems as the principal source of nitrogen emissions.<ref name=":02" />

Increasing land conversion by humans in future is not inevitable: In a discussion on response options to [[climate change mitigation]] and [[Climate change adaptation|adaptation]] an [[Special Report on Climate Change and Land|IPCC special report]] stated that "a number of response options such as increased food productivity, [[Planetary health diet|dietary choices]] and food losses, and waste reduction, can reduce demand for land conversion, thereby potentially freeing land and creating opportunities for enhanced implementation of other response options".<ref name=":15">IPCC, 2019: [https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/4/2022/11/SRCCL_SPM.pdf Summary for Policymakers]. In: [https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/ Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems] [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, E. Calvo Buendia, V. Masson-Delmotte, H.- O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, P. Zhai, R. Slade, S. Connors, R. van Diemen, M. Ferrat, E. Haughey, S. Luz, S. Neogi, M. Pathak, J. Petzold, J. Portugal Pereira, P. Vyas, E. Huntley, K. Kissick, M. Belkacemi, J. Malley, (eds.)]. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157988.001</nowiki></ref>{{rp|20}}