Land use

Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: forest land, cropland (agricultural land), grassland, wetlands, settlements and other lands. The way humans use land, and how land use is changing, has many impacts on the environment. Effects of land use choices and changes by humans include, for example, urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation, land degradation and desertification. Land use and land management practices have a major impact on natural resources including water, soil, nutrients, plants and animals.

Land use change is "the change from one land-use category to another". Land-use change, together with use of fossil fuels, are the major anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide, a dominant greenhouse gas. Human activity is the most significant cause of land cover change, and humans are also directly impacted by the environmental consequences of these changes. For example, deforestation (the systematic and permanent conversion of previously forested land for other uses) has historically been a primary facilitator of land use and land cover change.

The study of land change relies on the synthesis of a wide range of data and a diverse range of data collection methods. These include land cover monitoring and assessments, modeling risk and vulnerability, and land change modeling.

The IPCC defines the term land use as the "total of arrangements, activities and inputs applied to a parcel of land". The same report groups land use into the following categories: forest land, cropland (agricultural land), grassland, wetlands, settlements and other lands.

Another definition is that of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization: "Land use concerns the products and/or benefits obtained from use of the land as well as the land management actions (activities) carried out by humans to produce those products and benefits."

As of the early 1990s, about 13% of the Earth was considered arable land, with 26% in pasture, 32% forests and woodland, and 1.5% urban areas.

As of 2015, the total arable land is 10.7% of the land surface, with 1.3% being permanent cropland.

For example, the US Department of Agriculture has identified six major types of land use in the United States. Acreage statistics for each type of land use in the contiguous 48 states in 2017 were as follows: