Soil and Land Use Change

This book focuses on the overview of the causative factors for forcing land use changes and the historical developments worldwide. Healthy soil is the foundation of agriculture and an essential resource for meeting 21st-century human needs such as food, feed, fiber, clean water, and air. It is an integral component of ecosystems and earth system functions that help to deliver primary ecosystem services. Soil change, as opposed to soil variability, refers to the alteration of soil and its properties over time in one location. Although soils change due to pedogenesis, this book focuses on anthropogenic soil changes. Human use and management can cause soil change over long or short periods and on small or large scales. Many soils have had their chemical, physical, or biological properties altered due to agricultural activities such as cultivation, tillage, and weeding. The primary cause of accelerated soil erosion is human activity and related land use change, which seriously affects nutrient and carbon cycling, land productivity, and global socioeconomic conditions. Land degradation and land use have reached alarming proportions, exacerbated by climate change. Land use change has been identified as a worldwide issue because it is one of the primary causes of environmental change.