Land-use activities—whether converting
natural landscapes for human use or
changing management practices on
human-dominated lands—have transformed
a large proportion of the planet_s land surface.
By clearing tropical forests, practicing
subsistence agriculture, intensifying farmland
production, or expanding urban centers, human
actions are changing the world_s landscapes
in pervasive ways (1, 2) (Fig. 1, fig. S1,
and table S1). Although land-use practices
vary greatly across the world, their ultimate
outcome is generally the same: the acquisition
of natural resources for immediate human
needs, often at the expense of degrading environmental
conditions.
Several decades of research have revealed
the environmental impacts of land use