Up Exploration Human Habitation Human Migration Industrialization Land Use Urbanization and Cities World Religion World Trade

Nature Gallery (Global Trends [Population Growth])

Land Use

What is Land Use?
Humans make use of the land they inhabit to a degree unmatched by any other species. Anyone who has flown in an aeroplane can attest to the extent to which people have modified the landscape below to suit their own purposes. The human imprint is most marked in the temperate and tropical zones, but even remote deserts, high mountains, and polar regions bear evidence of the works of people.

In large urban and industrial centres and major transport networks, the alteration of the landscape is most evident. Land occupied by farms, plantations, and pasture may seem more "natural", but these forms of development are the products of human activity just as surely as densely populated cities, sprawling factory complexes, and bustling international airports. Human land use even extends to the oceans, where people appropriate the surface for maritime traffic lanes; comb the waters below for fish, squid, algae, and other items of value; and mine the seabed for petroleum and metals. Leaving land in its natural state is another, more subtle form of land use, since wilderness, parks, and preserves may still satisfy human demands for recreation and for ecosystem services such as water catchment, and the control of land erosion.
Land represents about 29 per cent of the Earth's surface. The uses to which this land is put-known as land-use morphology-vary considerably from place to place. In the continental United States, for example, land is more or less equally divided amongst forest, pasture, crops, and built-up areas. By contrast, 75 per cent of the land in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaïre) is forested, and only about 10 per cent is devoted to crops and pasture.

The constraints imposed by geography, population density, climate, and other factors make usable land an especially precious commodity in some countries. In the low-lying Netherlands, strenuous efforts have been made to increase the amount of land available for economic use by reclaiming large areas from the sea. Similarly, in Japan, where most of the population is crowded onto the narrow coastal plains that lie between the mountainous interior and the sea, engineers create additional land by filling bays and harbours. In Bangladesh, devastating floods arrive with depressing regularity. They are the result of extensive deforestation in the mountains upstream, torrential monsoon rainfall, and occasional tidal waves in the Bay of Bengal. Combined with slowly rising sea levels, these forces threaten to reduce permanently the land area available for human habitation.

In most countries, increasing pressure to use land for economic development is leading to conflict. Farmland, wetlands or other land close to cities may be sought by developers to convert into suburbs, motorways, or shopping centres. Conservationists may resist efforts to level natural forests and replace them with tree plantations, ranches, or farms. Developing countries in particular are frequently faced with a dilemma. Their need for money leads them to liquidate their forests and modify their savannahs to obtain timber, beef, tea, rubber, and other cash crops for export, yet they must conserve these same ecosystems to guarantee resources for the future.

Mapping Land Usage
Detailed mapping of land use began in earnest during the 1930s, when many governments started to examine the relative contribution of different forms of land use to the national economy. At the same time, it became apparent that a code of planning laws was necessary to direct how land might be used. In England, the Land Utilisation Survey of the 1930s led to the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947. At this time, mapping techniques relied on direct observations made in the field, a time-consuming endeavour that produced quickly outdated surveys.

Aerial photography subsequently facilitated the production and improved the quality of land-use maps, but the most significant advances have been made over the last 20 years. The introduction of remote sensing techniques and computer-based geographic information systems (GIS) has revolutionized land-use mapping and made it possible to gather large amounts of information quickly. Remote sensing relies on data collected by satellites such as the United States Landsat system and the French SPOT. These satellites orbit from pole to pole in about 100 minutes and repeatedly sense the surface of the planet rotating beneath them.

True colour may sometimes be used, but the satellite images that yield the most detail are those created in false colour using infra-red radiation from the earth's surface. These images provide an almost instant "map" of land use and are capable of revealing even short-term phenomena, such as a pollution event or the spread of crop disease. Different sets of satellite data are analysed by GIS computers to show the relationship between different land characteristics, such as relief or soil moisture. These findings are then used to develop land capability indexes, which combine the relative importance of soil, microclimate, slope, and ground stability to give an assessment of the best use of a given piece of land.

Agricultural Land
Farmland occupies 11 per cent of the earth's total available land area, but the amount of land given over to farming varies greatly from country to country. It is as high as 77 per cent in Barbados, and in Denmark it exceeds 60 per cent. It is lowest in the arid countries of Middle East. For example, only 0.2 per cent of the area of Oman is farmed.

The type of farming practised tends to vary with the distance from large centres of population, a pattern described by the German economist Johann Heinrich von Thünen in 1826. He noted that farms close to cities, where land is most valuable, tend to occupy comparatively small plots and raise crops intensively-a farming system where high yields are achieved with high levels of additional inputs, such as fertilizer and labour-since those crops that perish quickly command a high market price, and are often costly to transport. With increasing distance from the centre, the farms become larger and the crops, such as wheat, maize, and other grains, as well as livestock, are raised extensively. Although improvements in transport and refrigeration have permitted departures from von Thünen's model of rural land use, it is still considered to underpin patterns of farming today, especially in economically developed countries.

The global population is growing ever larger and so the demand for food also grows. This demand has led an increasing amount of land being converted for farming, even when the land is unsuitable or of marginal value, and even when the consequences of farming may be disastrous. In Central and South America, for instance, the introduction of cattle rearing to provide beef for export to markets in the United States, Japan, and Europe has resulted in widespread deforestation to create grazing land. Since the pasture is often of poor quality, large areas may be needed to support relatively few animals. Furthermore, as it is expensive to maintain grazing land of even this low quality, the easy option is to clear more forest rather than investing in fertilizer or reducing herd size to sustainable levels.

In coastal countries that are able to afford it, reclamation of land from the sea is one way of providing more farmland. The classic example is the Netherlands. Between about 1200 and 1900 approximately 4,600 square kilometres (1,800 square miles) were reclaimed, and another 1,700 square kilometres (660 square miles) have been added in the 20th century. The four main polders of the IJsselmeer have a distinctive land-use pattern. Approximately 90 per cent of this land is occupied by intensively farmed, highly mechanized farms that average 40 hectares (100 acres) in size and produce market garden crops, bulbs, potatoes, cereals, and sugar beet. Pressures to farm more economically and to conform to European Union (EU) agricultural policies have led to land consolidation and land-use planning projects. The result is one of the most intensive and organized patterns of land-use in the world.

The concept of sustainability has grown out of the need to reconcile conflicts between economic development and the conservation of the environment. The 1987 Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". The ideal of sustainable development is not confined to agriculture, but agriculture is an important part of it.

Sustainable farming aims to balance agricultural development with the natural limitations of the environment while feeding more people and providing many with a better diet. Organic farming, which uses no chemicals, is one form of sustainable development that is slowly being introduced into countries which have alternative sources of food, in case the organic yields decline without the help of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Others include integrated pest management, which combines the judicious use of strictly timed, narrow-spectrum pesticides with biological and cultural forms of control; and improved methods of irrigation, which deliver measured amounts of water directly to the roots of plants. A key concept of sustainable farming is environmental capacity, determined by assessing how much use a particular environment can withstand before it starts to decline in productivity. The overall aim is for an agriculture that maintains the integrity of agro-ecosystems through a reduced dependence on chemicals, greater care of the soil, and conservation of water. Unfortunately, all these hopeful developments are still a long way from yielding food in the amounts needed to feed the modern world, and they will arrive last in those parts of the world that need them the most.

Land Misuse
The notion of the misuse of land is a subjective judgment and therefore hard to define. What some people may consider wasteful or destructive may be acceptable or even desirable to others. A dam across a river in the desert may be praised for providing flood control, generating hydroelectric power, and creating a reservoir that supplies irrigation water and offers recreational opportunities. The same dam may be condemned for drowning an area of spectacular beauty, destroying habitat for plant and animal species, and encouraging urbanization and agriculture in a region that is ill-suited to either.

Practitioners of some apparently destructive forms of land use would dispute that their actions were misguided. The wealth resulting from the mine that dumps toxic waste or from the factory that spews noxious smoke might be considered sufficient justification. Consequently, most forms of land misuse have strong arguments to support them. The inevitable conflicts highlight the value of land as a resource and the need for long-term planning to protect it from irrevocable degradation.

Many forms of land use, including construction, open-cast mining, agriculture, and forestry, involve disturbing or removing vegetation cover. When this disturbance generates further environmental and economic problems, the land may reasonably be considered misused. The soil erosion and decline in prosperity experienced by the Tennessee Valley in the United States in the 1930s demonstrates what can happen when the relationships between climate, vegetation cover, soil structure, and farming are not fully understood. Removal of vegetation and poor farming practices caused large amounts of soil to wash into local rivers, which then flooded as their channels silted up.

The pressure for economic expansion creates similar problems in developing countries, such as Pakistan. In the north of the country, the Murree Hills vary in height from about 500 to 3,000 metres (1,500 to 10,000 feet), and cover an area of about 3,000 square kilometres (1,900 square miles). Much of the woodland below about 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) has been cleared, and the land is either used for grazing or terraced for cultivation. Soil erosion is severe on the steeper slopes and has been aggravated by poor maintenance of the terraces. Where overgrazing has occurred, the surface has become gullied through the action of heavy rainfall, of which there is about 2,000 millimetres (80 inches) per year. The removal of soil-at the rate of about 1 ton per hectare per year, over one-third of the Murree Hills area-is causing river silting and flooding in the adjacent lowlands. Although it is illegal in some districts, removal of the forest cover continues. The timber is converted into charcoal for domestic use-about 80 per cent of households use timber in this way. Natural forest regeneration is slow, reforestation programmes are inadequate, and planning is made difficult by the lack of vegetation maps and soil data.

Land for Recreation
The use of land for recreation poses many challenges. In built-up areas, the competition for land for buildings and transport is intense, and land values are high as a result. Land for recreation rarely generates the same income for its owners as houses, offices and shops, so it often has to be specifically reserved. Nevertheless, the provision of amenities for recreation is central to modern urban planning, and a number of world cities are renowned for the conversion of run-down areas into districts devoted to entertainment, recreation, and leisure.

Amongst the best known developments in the United States are Harbor Place in Baltimore, Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, and Quincy Market in Boston. The Darling Harbour Project in Sydney, Docklands in London, and the waterfront area of Halifax, Nova Scotia, are other successful examples.

The revitalization of the Parklands in Brisbane, Australia is a typical example. Here, a derelict port and industrial area, which had thrived from the 1880s until new harbour facilities were constructed nearby in the 1960s and 1970s, was cleared to make way for Expo '88, a year-long international event. The area now accommodates a wide range of restaurants and markets, a waterway ride on an artificial canal, a simulated rainforest walk, an artificial lagoon, a beach, playgrounds, gardens, and a theatre. The Parklands has done much to rejuvenate an otherwise depressed urban district. The scheme offers opportunities close to the central business district and attracts visitors. It is estimated that 4.5 million people visited Brisbane's Parklands in the first six months of its operation.

The designation of land for recreation in rural and wilderness areas presents different issues. In the United Kingdom, for example, much of the countryside is privately owned and is not accessible to members of the public, even for walking or rambling. The National Parks, defined by acts of parliament, were intended to preserve areas of natural beauty and to enable the public to enjoy the scenery, but even here there is competition for the use of the land. The parks provide opportunities for walking, riding, and fishing, but these pursuits conflict with farming, forestry, mining, quarrying, and military use, as well as the demand for more housing in rural areas. Recreation in such reserved areas is strictly controlled to ensure that their natural characteristics are not damaged by overuse.

Land used for recreation is not limited to economically developed nations. Besides their conservation objectives, the game reserves of Africa represent investment in recreation because of their substantial power to earn income from tourism. The great African parks-the Masai Mara, Serengeti National Park, Hwange National Park, and Kruger, for example-provide so-called "green" tourism for people from developed countries. (At the same time, local people may resent being kept from using protected land to make a living, except when they are afforded opportunities to profit from the parks.) The European Community (EC), now the European Union (EU), has forged agreements with developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Ocean to help support such recreation-conservation developments. The fourth ACP-EC Convention of Lomé, signed in 1995, provided for financial and economic help in return for the reduced and more careful exploitation of natural resources and environmentally sensitive areas in the developing countries.

Land Use Conflicts
It is quite common for competition for land to evolve into conflict. Some conflicts last longer than others and may involve complex patterns of land tenure and inheritance. In the rural parts of developing countries, the ownership of land is not always clear in law, and it may be challenged by governments or companies wishing to take over land from individuals. Rising rents and other costs may also force people to give up their land in order to pay off debts.

Between 1985 and 1995, according to the IBRD (World Bank), the development of dams for hydroelectric power and water conservancy projects, the conduct of forestry and mining, the establishment of parks, the construction of transport corridors, and the growth of urban centres collectively resulted in the involuntary resettlement of as many as 100 million people. Not all of these developments displace people, but many deny the right of local people to participate in decisions affecting land-use. In the Weipa region of northern Queensland, Australia, the status of land reserved for the aboriginal people was revoked by special legislation in the late 1950s to enable mineral exploitation by mining companies. Although mining has brought increased economic prosperity to the region, it has taken until the 1990s for the aboriginal people to re-establish their voice on issues of land ownership, land use, and local government.

The original inhabitants of Canada's Northwest Territories underwent a similar experience as the land was exploited to provide raw materials for manufacturing industry elsewhere. Since 1984, when the Canadian government began to recognize the rights of indigenous people, three major land claims have been settled. Local people can now assert land-use rights over a total of about 300,000 square kilometres (116,000 square miles) and have received many millions of dollars in compensation. In due course, the Northwest Territories will be split to enable the creation of a new territory called Nunavut, in which 85 per cent of the population will be Inuit.

Other conflicts over land use, although smaller in scale, may become quite heated and involve intense public lobbying. Good examples are the use of land for nuclear power stations, new roads, out-of-town shopping centres, and urban development in general. In countries where land is in short supply—the densely populated smaller countries of northern Europe, for instance—new developments often create disputes about the loss of greenfield sites. In England, pressure on green-belt land designed to limit the growth of towns and cities continues to be a source of public disquiet. In the London area, schemes to widen motorways, extend airports, and increase the number of regional shopping centres have all been resisted. In rural areas, there is strong competition from developers to convert land no longer needed for agriculture into golf courses. Vigorous objections are made by those who want the public to enjoy improved access to the countryside without the artificial alterations necessary for golf.

The diversity of human values both between and within societies guarantees that issues of land use will never be free from conflict. In most instances, the clash occurs between those who will be directly, and often adversely, affected by proposed developments, and those who stand to gain economically from them. Since the amount of land is effectively finite, the rapidly growing global population ensures that competition for land must increase. Only a revolution in attitudes, which takes into account the long-term consequences of different land uses, will optimize benefits for the greatest number of the planet's inhabitants, including the human race.