title: Global consequences of land use.
abstract: Land use has generally been considered a local environmental issue, but it is becoming a force of global importance. Worldwide changes to forests, farmlands, waterways, and air are being driven by the need to provide food, fiber, water, and shelter to more than six billion people. Global croplands, pastures, plantations, and urban areas have expanded in recent decades, accompanied by large increases in energy, water, and fertilizer consumption, along with considerable losses of biodiversity. Such changes in land use have enabled humans to appropriate an increasing share of the planet's resources, but they also potentially undermine the capacity of ecosystems to sustain food production, maintain freshwater and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality, and ameliorate infectious diseases. We face the challenge of managing trade-offs between immediate human needs and maintaining the capacity of the biosphere to provide goods and services in the long term.
authors.affiliation: Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), University of Wisconsin, 1710 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726, USA. jfoley@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Foley
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Defries
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Asner
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barford
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bonan
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.forename: F Stuart
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Chapin
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Coe
authors.forename: Gretchen C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Daily
authors.forename: Holly K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Gibbs
authors.forename: Joseph H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Helkowski
authors.forename: Tracey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Holloway
authors.forename: Erica A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kucharik
authors.forename: Chad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monfreda
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Patz
authors.forename: I Colin
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Prentice
authors.forename: Navin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ramankutty
authors.forename: Peter K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Snyder
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000397:Air Pollution; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D002980:Climate; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D005618:Fresh Water; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D011050:Policy Making; D014197:Trees