Human Land Use

Forests
Grasslands

Land Use Facts

2/3 of Earths land is forest, grasslands or
agriculture. The rest is tundra, desert, marsh, urban
areas, or otherwise not directly useable by humans
or livestock but are valuable resevoirs of
biodiversity (1/3 of the remaining third is barren)
More than 10% of land is used for growing crops
About 10% of land is officially preserved in public
parks and reserves

Current State of Forests

Humans have cleared billions of hectares of forests
for agriculture, timber and firewood.
About half of Earths forests have been converted to
crops, pasture, human living space and wasteland
(most of this has happened in the last 200 years).

Kinds of Forests
Earth is currently
29% forested with
4/5 closed canopy
forest like the
Amazon and 1/5
open canopy
woodland like the
Cerrado

Old vs New Forests

Some forests have been regrown.
Old-growth forests are ones that are
undisturbed in that they have never been cut
down.
These are ancient forests with old trees. This is
where much of the worlds species live.
These are mainly in areas where there are not a
lot of humans (Russia, Canada, Brazil,
Oceania).
See page 256 of your text for some more forest
facts

Value of Forests
Economic Activity (industrial timber for
lumber, plywood, veneer, particle board).
Humans use about 3.5 billion cubic meters of
wood each year (doubled from 50 years ago).
This accounts for $100 billion in economic
activity.
In North American and Europe most timber is
from managed forests that are replanted.
In Latin America, Africa and Asia most timber
is from clearcutting old growth forests that are
not replante.

Firewood
Half of all wood cut is for firewood
1.5 billion people depend on firewood
By 2050 fuelwood will be 2.6 billion cubic meters

Ecosystem Services

These have no official value

Sources of food (fruits, nuts, mushrooms,

materials like cane and rattan, fodder for
animals)

Wildlife habitat

Recreation

Source of biodiversity

Oxygen production and carbon

sequestration

Water filtration and retention

Soil retention to prevent landslides

Forest Management
Deliberate cutting followed by replanting.

25% of forests
Most are planted with a single species like eucalyptus (a
monoculture) in dense stands so the forests are not complex
ecosystems and they are susceptible to disease and pests.

Reforestation programs (Japan, China, United States, Europe)

 Pg 258-256 Read, take notes