Land Use and Land Cover Change Resource Scarcity
Impact of land use/land cover changes on water quality and human health in district Peshawar Pakistan. Scientific Reports.
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WHAT IS PLANETARY HEALTH?
Land Use and Land Cover Change
The conversion of natural habitat to land used for agriculture and industry is occurring rapidly on a global scale, with dire consequences for the structure and function of ecosystems.
Demographic shifts and increased demand for food, animal products, biofuel, and even cosmetics continue to drive the destruction of ecosystems and their services. This extractive activity leads to negative environmental and human health impacts including:
90% Tropical deforestation driven by agriculture, according to the World Wildlife Fund's 2024 Living Planet Report
- Substantial reduction of biological diversity
- Increased local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from land clearing by burning, which is particularly problematic in tropical and subtropical regions where oil palm cultivation is rapidly increasing
- Soil degradation, which reduces soil ecosystem services such as carbon storage, and increases the risk of desertification
- Nitrogen and phosphorus deposition from agricultural field runoff
- Decreased water quality and quantity
- Increased exposure to water-borne, zoonotic, and vector-borne diseases
The complex interactions between changes in land use, land cover, ecosystem services, and the attendant impacts on human health require longitudinal study across geographic regions in addition to urgent action to re-wild and restore many of the planet’s natural habitats.
Land Use and Land Cover Change Resources
Infectious Diseases Biodiversity Loss
Anthropogenic landscape decreases mosquito biodiversity and drives malaria vector proliferation in the Amazon rainforest. PLOS One.
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Infectious Diseases Land Use and Land Cover Change
Epidemiology, biodiversity and technological trajectories in the Brazilian Amazon: From malaria to COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health.
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Biodiversity Loss Land Use and Land Cover Change
Habitat destruction and overexploitation drive widespread declines in all facets of mammalian diversity in the Gran Chaco. Global Change Biology.
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Climate Change Land Use and Land Cover Change
Health impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers. One Health.
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News Related to Land Use and Land Cover Change
Cultural Performance as Ecological Healing in Kenya
