Land Use and Land Cover Change Economics and Economic Systems
Access to human health benefits of forests in rural low and middle-income countries: A literature review and conceptual framework. Challenges.
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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
Land Use and Land Cover Change Energy
Assessing the intensity of economic progress, industrialization, energy use on environmental degradation. South Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities.
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Land Use and Land Cover Change
Deforestation and forest loss. Our World in Data.
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Land Use and Land Cover Change Ocean / Marine Degradation
Ecological restoration of inland aquaculture in land-locked Europe: The role of semi-intensive fishponds and multitrophic technologies in transforming food systems. Nature Sustainability.
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Chemical Pollution Land Use and Land Cover Change
Environmental pollution indices: A review on concentration of heavy metals in air, water, and soil near industrialization and urbanisation. Discover Environment.
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