|
|
- Info
Land use and land cover in global environmental change: Considerations for study
| Author: |
Turner, B.L., II; Meyer, W.B. |
| Date: |
1991 |
| Periodical: |
International Social Science Journal |
| Abstract: |
The centrality of nature-society relationships to the study of global environmental change has been increasingly recognized under the rubric of its `human dimensions'. Segments of the social sciences have long traditions of study on the interactions of society with the natural environment but the clear significance of the `human dimensions of global environmental change' promises to bring many of those segments together in co-operative ventures. These dimensions cover so vast a field, however, that some boundaries must be drawn, if only for the management of the research effort. Initially, we might separate research addressing the human causes of environmental change from studies of its consequences to society and of human responses to it, although surely there is much overlap among these topics. But even these categories are too broad, at least for examinations that are global in scope; further division is required. The direct human sources of environmental change can be divided into two groups: industrial metabolism, and land use and cover. Industrial metabolism is the flow of energy and materials through the industrial production-to-consumption-to-disposal chain of urban society. The category of land use and land cover (henceforth land use unless otherwise noted), in contrast, focuses on the changes in the land surface or surficial resources, and is largely rural in context. Again, to be sure, the two categories are not mutually exclusive, but together they probably capture the critical processes that are driving most contemporary global environmental change. |
|
