It is crucial to study the global impact of land
change because over the last recent decades, humans have been responsible for
changing the global environment. This continues to be more of a concern as the
population on Earth increases more and more. So it is necessary to understand
how land change affects the environment, what socio-economic causes affect it
as well as how it affects processes that affect global change. With agriculture
and forestry, humans have been a significant reason that many landscapes have
been completely modified and have impacted other creatures or plants that
depend on these landscapes. The demand for these resources also grows because
of the growing human population. Some social systems have attempted and been
successful when dealing with land change and climate changes. People in
wealthier countries are “buffered” from the impacts of climate change more so than
people in third world countries. Many natural inputs like water or energy, have
been modified by climate change and will continue to as rainfall and
temperature patterns fluctuate in the coming years. These land changes could
increase the exotic creature population by affecting the natural habitat of a
certain landscape. Irrigated and non-irrigated cropland would be an example of
how landscape changes due to land use practices. In the coming years, people
will be more challenged to meet their needs for their resources while being as
sustainable as possible and responding to these global environment changes
effectively.
Ojima, D. S., Galvin, K. A., & Turner, B. L.
(1994). The global impact of land-use change. BioScience, 300-304.
You state that some wealthier populations are more buffered from the impacts of climate change more so than people in third world countries. This seems like somewhat of a general statement. Even people in wealthier countries feel the impacts of hotter summers, or decreased rainfall, or the rising oceans. I feel like more information should be provided for a reader to understand that claim made. I feel like maybe it would be good to say that they don't feel the impacts "as much" because of increased access to water resources or alternate resources (like if the forests were failing, timber could be found elsewhere and imported, etc.), whereas poorer countries cannot just import everything they need.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise very interesting piece!
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ReplyDeleteHow can GIS be used to show the effects of land change? Also could it be useful in showing the difference between how countries experience climate change and how they contribute to it? To support the claim that Rachel is talking about above.
ReplyDeleteAs people are challenged by the impacts of their land use, how will they be sustainable and respond to the environmental changes? As both challenges they are partially human caused.
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