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Local faces, global flows: The role of land use and land cover in global environmental change
Author(s) -
Turner B. L.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/ldr.3400050204
Subject(s) - environmental change , global change , land use , land cover , environmental resource management , land use, land use change and forestry , biosphere , environmental planning , geography , climate change , environmental science , ecology , biology
The emergence of land‐use and land‐cover change (LUCC) as one of the major themes within the global environmental change research community poses a series of difficult but not insurmountable problems. LUCC takes place incrementally through the operation of sets of human and biophysical forces largely specific to the locale in question, but cumulatively LUCC contributes significantly to global environmental change. Linking LUCC to global change requires the cooperation of the natural and social sciences to bridge the local to global dynamics involved. The International Geosphere‐Biosphere Programme and the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme are undertaking the development of an international research project with such aims in mind. This project seeks to improve understanding of LUCC dynamics by balancing the need for a nuanced understanding at the local level with the need from improved regional and global LUCC models. The rudiments of this effort and some of problems confronting it are outlined here.