Question

Explain why land use has changed over time

Answer 1

The regions of India, China, and the United States described in this volume are each unique, as all places are.1But do they have common discernible patterns of land use change that may provide insights into the dynamics of how people and places interact? The Tri-Academy Project examined and compared the timelines, patterns, and associated attributes of land use change in six study regions—Kerala, India; Haryana, India; Jitai Basin, China; Pearl River Delta, China; South Florida, USA; and Chicago, USA. In doing so, project researchers achieved a closer look at the intertwined fates of the forestland, grassland, wetland, agricultural land, and built-up land in those regions. The transformation from less intensively modified forests, grassland, and wetland, to land uses with greater human modification, such as agricultural fields and urban settings, is the most usual trajectory but not the only one (Arizpe et al., 1994). A comparison of these and other transformations provides the foundation for the analysis of population/land use dynamics described in this chapter. The goal of this analysis, as with other land use change studies, is to contribute to the integration of the natural and social sciences, the linkage of science to policy, and the development of pathways to sustainable development. (Turner, 1991; Fresco et al., 1997).

1In the following quote substitute “population/land use studies” for “history”: “Cross-national comparative history can undermine two contrary but equally damaging presuppositions—the illusion of total regularity and that of absolute uniqueness. Cross-national history, by acquainting one with what goes on elsewhere, may inspire a critical awareness of what is taken for granted in one's own country, but it also promotes a recognition that similar functions may be performed by differing means” (Frederickson, 1998).

Answer 2

Because of atmosphere

Change in climate

Temperature

RAINFALL


WATER ETC..