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II. World Land Use

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Facts and Figures

  1. Currrent Land Use
    Agricultural systems occupy approximately 34% of global land area and approximately 48% of total land area exclusive of desert, rocks and ice (Table FF1)

    Table 1. World land distribution. Figures are those cited by Costanza et al. (1997) for different biomes, Noble and Dirzo (1997) for use of forests, and de Haan et al. (1997) for use of grass/rangeland and crops.

    BIOME AREA
    (billions of hectares    		 More details Area
    (billions of hectares
    Desert 1.93 Forest Biome  
    Tundra 0.74    Plantations 0.15
    Ice, rock 1.64    Other, exploited 0.50
    Urban 0.33 Grass/rangeland  
    Wetlands 0.33    Extensive grazing 2.2
    Lakes & Rivers 0.20    On mixed farms 1.1
    Forest 4.86 Crops*  
    Grass/rangeland 3.90    rainfed 1.2
    Crops 1.4    irrigated 0.2
    TOTAL 15.3    

    *According to de Haan et al. (1997), 1/4 of the produce from cropland is used to feed livestock.

  2. New Land
    Globally, it is estimated that 2/3 of the land not now cultivated that has rainfed cultivation potential is currently covered by various forest ecosystems and wetlands; the percentages by region vary from 23% in southern Africa to 89% in SE Asia. If these were to be preserved, the remaining land with rainfed agricultural potential amounts to 550 million hectares. The areas likely to face greatest shortages of land in the future (or greatest needs for imports) are Western Asia, South-Central Asia and Northern Africa (Fischer and Heilig, 1997).

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Cited Literature and Links

  • Costanza, R. et al. 1997. The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387: 253-260
  • de Haan, C., H. Steinfeld, and H. Blackburn. 1997. Livestock and the Environment. Finding a balance. European Commission Directorate-General for Development; WRENmedia, Fressingfield, Eye, Suffolk, IP21 5SA, U.K. SF 85 H32 1997.
  • Fischer, G., and G.K. Heilig. 1997 Population momentum and the demand on land and water resources. Philosophical Transcations of the Royal Society of London . Series B 352: 869-889.
  • Noble, I.R. and R. Dirzo. 1997. Forests as human-dominated ecosystems. Science 277: 522-525.
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