Land change science

Land change science is a growing discipline that studies all changes occurring on the land surface, including changes in both land cover and land use, and contributes significantly to the understanding of land use dynamics. It is a term central to land system science and has become increasingly important in addressing the complicated and pressing problems faced by policy makers around the world today.From: Landscape and Land Capacity [2020], The future of global land change monitoring [2023], Fresh Water and Watersheds [2020]

Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LULCC)

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Published in Yeqiao Wang, Landscape and Land Capacity, 2020

Burak Güneralp

There is a large body of both theoretically and empirically grounded work on LULCC. These studies fall under the umbrella of the relatively new but growing discipline of land-change science. Several international science efforts such as the Global Land Project,[9] a joint research project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (http://www.igbp.net) and the International Human Dimensions Programme (http://www.ihdp.org), are devoted to issues revolving around LULCC in recognition of the pivotal role it plays in the functioning of the Earth system. These issues are treated at length in the many books and reports published specifically on the subject of LULCC.[10–20]

The future of global land change monitoring

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Published in International Journal of Digital Earth, 2023

Xiao-Peng Song

Land cover refers to the biophysical cover on the ground, such as vegetation, water, bare soil and impervious surface, whereas land use refers to the purpose the land serves, for example, agriculture, wildlife habitat, urban infrastructure and recreation. Land cover, as opposed to land use, can be directly observed from satellites or other remote sensing platforms, whereas land use is a major driver of land cover change. When land is regarded as a system, land change, a term central to land system science and land change science, refers to all changes occurring on the land surface, which include changes in both land cover and land use (Song et al. 2018; Turner, Lambin, and Reenberg 2007).

Land change science

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Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LULCC)

The future of global land change monitoring