Editing Land use (section)

== Examples of land use change ==

=== Deforestation ===
{{Main|Deforestation}}
[[File:Deforestation_of_Rainforest.jpg|thumb|Rainforest [[deforestation]] for land use conversion]]
[[Deforestation]] is the systematic and permanent conversion of previously forested land for other uses.<ref name=":17" /> It has historically been a primary facilitator of land use and land cover change.<ref name=":8" /> Forests are a vital part of the global ecosystem and are essential to [[Carbon capture and storage|carbon capture]], ecological processes, and [[biodiversity]].<ref name=":8" /> However, since the invention of agriculture, global forest cover has diminished by 35%.<ref name=":8" /> 

There is rarely one direct or underlying cause for deforestation.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |date=2007-03-30 |title=Tropical Deforestation |url=https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Deforestation/deforestation_update3.php#:~:text=Direct%20causes%20of%20deforestation%20are,single%20direct%20cause%20for%20deforestation. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331054947/https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Deforestation/deforestation_update3.php#:~:text=Direct%20causes%20of%20deforestation%20are,single%20direct%20cause%20for%20deforestation. |archive-date=2021-03-31 |access-date=2021-04-08 |website=earthobservatory.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref> Rather, deforestation is the result of intertwining systemic forces working simultaneously or sequentially to change land cover.<ref name=":12" /> Deforestation occurs for many interconnected reasons.<ref name=":92">{{Cite journal |last1=López-Carr |first1=David |last2=Burgdorfer |first2=Jason |date=2013-01-01 |title=Deforestation Drivers: Population, Migration, and Tropical Land Use |url= |journal=Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=3–11 |bibcode=2013ESPSD..55a...3L |doi=10.1080/00139157.2013.748385 |issn=0013-9157 |pmc=3857132 |pmid=24347675}}</ref> For instance, mass deforestation is often viewed as the product of industrial agriculture, yet a considerable portion [[old-growth forest]] deforestation is the result of small-scale migrant farming.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last1=López-Carr |first1=David |last2=Burgdorfer |first2=Jason |date=2013-01-01 |title=Deforestation Drivers: Population, Migration, and Tropical Land Use |url= |journal=Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=3–11 |bibcode=2013ESPSD..55a...3L |doi=10.1080/00139157.2013.748385 |issn=0013-9157 |pmc=3857132 |pmid=24347675}}</ref> As forest cover is removed, forest resources become exhausted and increasing populations lead to scarcity, which prompts people to move again to previously undisturbed forest, restarting the process of deforestation.<ref name=":9" /> There are several reasons behind this continued migration: poverty-driven lack of available farmland and high costs may lead to an increase in farming intensity on existing farmland.<ref name=":9" /> This leads to the overexploitation of farmland, and down the line results in [[desertification]], another land cover change, which renders soil unusable and unprofitable, requiring farmers to seek out untouched and unpopulated old-growth forests.<ref name=":9" />

In addition to rural migration and subsistence farming, economic development can also play a substantial role in deforestation.<ref name=":12" /> For example, road and railway expansions designed to increase quality of life have resulted in significant deforestation in the [[Amazon rainforest|Amazon]] and [[Central America]].<ref name=":12" /> Moreover, the underlying drivers of economic development are often linked to global economic engagement, ranging from increased [[Export|exports]] to a [[External debt|foreign debt]].<ref name=":12" />

=== Urbanization ===
[[File:Delhi_aerial_photo_03-2016_img2.jpg|thumb|An aerial image of [[New Delhi]], India, one of the world's largest urban areas]]
Broadly, [[urbanization]] is the increasing number of people who live in urban areas. Urbanization refers to both urban population growth and the physical growth of urban areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Urbanization |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/urbanization.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113094611/https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/urbanization.htm |archive-date=2021-01-13 |access-date=2021-04-09 |website=ScienceDaily |language=en}}</ref> According to the [[United Nations]], the global urban population has increased rapidly since 1950, from 751 million to 4.2 billion in 2018, and current trends predict this number will continue to grow.<ref name=":13">United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Urbanization Prospects 2018: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/421).</ref> Accompanying this population shift are significant changes in economic flow, culture and lifestyle, and spatial population distribution.<ref name=":13" /> Although urbanized areas cover just 3% of the Earth's surface, they nevertheless have a significant impact on land use and land cover change.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Zhifeng |last2=He |first2=Chunyang |last3=Zhou |first3=Yuyu |last4=Wu |first4=Jianguo |date=May 2014 |title=How much of the world's land has been urbanized, really? A hierarchical framework for avoiding confusion |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10980-014-0034-y |journal=Landscape Ecology |language=en |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=763–771 |bibcode=2014LaEco..29..763L |doi=10.1007/s10980-014-0034-y |issn=0921-2973 |s2cid=207209868}}</ref>

Urbanization is important to land use and land cover change for a variety of reasons. In particular, urbanization affects land change elsewhere through the shifting of ''urban-rural linkages,'' or the [[ecological footprint]] of the transfer of [[goods and services]] between urban and rural areas.<ref name=":11">{{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> Increases in urbanization lead to increases in consumption, which puts increased pressure on surrounding rural lands.<ref name=":11" /> The outward spread of urban areas can also take over adjacent land formerly used for crop cultivation.<ref name=":11" />

Urbanization additionally affects land cover through the [[Urban heat island|urban heat island effect.]] Heat islands occur when, due to high concentrations of structures, such as buildings and roads, that absorb and re-emit solar radiation, and low concentrations of vegetative cover, urban areas experience higher temperatures than surrounding areas.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |last=US EPA |first=OAR |date=2014-02-28 |title=Heat Island Effect |url=https://www.epa.gov/heatislands |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407190916/https://www.epa.gov/heatislands |archive-date=2021-04-07 |access-date=2021-04-09 |website=US EPA |language=en}}</ref> The high temperatures associated with heat islands can compromise human health, particularly in low-income areas.<ref name=":14" />

=== Decline of the Aral Sea ===
[[File:AralSea1989_2014.jpg|thumb|Remote sensing images show changes to the extent of the [[Aral Sea]] from 1989 (left) to 2014 (right).]]
The rapid decline of the [[Aral Sea]] is an example how local-scale land use and land change can have compounded impacts on regional climate systems, particularly when human activities heavily disrupt natural climatic cycles, how land change science can be used to map and study such changes.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Turner |first1=B. L. |last2=Lambin |first2=Eric F. |last3=Reenberg |first3=Anette |date=2007-12-26 |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> In 1960, the Aral Sea, located in Central Asia, was the world's fourth largest lake.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Middleton |first=Nick |title=The Global Casino: An Introduction to Environmental Issues |publisher=Routledge |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-315-15840-2 |location=London & New York |pages=179–182}}</ref> However, a water diversion project, undertaken by the [[Soviet Union]] to irrigate arid plains in what is now [[Kazakhstan]], [[Uzbekistan]], and [[Turkmenistan]], resulted in the Aral Sea losing 85% of its land cover and 90% of its volume.<ref name=":6" /> The loss of the Aral Sea has had a significant effect on human-environment interactions in the region, including the decimation of the sea's fishing industry and the [[Soil salinity|salinization]] of agricultural lands by the wind-spread of dried sea salt beds.<ref name=":03" /><ref name=":6" /> 

Additionally, scientists have been able to use technology such as [[NASA]]'s [[Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer|Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)]] to track changes to the Aral Sea and its surrounding climate over time.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-09-24 |title=World of Change: Shrinking Aral Sea |url=https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/AralSea |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320113542/https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/AralSea |archive-date=2021-03-20 |access-date=2021-03-08 |website=earthobservatory.nasa.gov |language=en}}</ref> This use of modeling and satellite imagery to track human-caused land cover change is characteristic of the scope of land change science.