Changes in Land Use and Cover

This book deals with the relationship between land use and land cover: between human activities and the transformation of the Earth's surface. It describes the recent changes in the world's farmland, forests, grasslands and settlements, and the impacts of these changes on soil, water resources and the atmosphere. It explores what is known about the importance of various underlying human sources of land transformation: population growth, technological change, political-economic institutions, political structure, and attitudes and beliefs. Three working group reports outline important avenues for future research: the construction of a global land model, the division of the world into regional situations of land transformation, and a wiring diagram to structure the division of research among fields of study.