How much land is inhabited by humans

Using a combination of recent global maps of human influence, researchers were able to calculate the average influence humans are having on ecosystems worldwide. F or as long as humans have existed they have impacted their surrounding environment. As the devastating effects of anthropogenic climate change unravel worldwide, it is hardly surprising that many people favour this view.

The paper, published June 3 in the prestigious journal Science , has key policy implications for nations negotiating new conservation targets for under the umbrella of the United Nations. This post global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity will come into effect later this year and set the next conservation agenda for participating nations. The paper also says 1. Lead author James R. It is essentially a conservation plan for the planet, and we must implement it quickly. The research team used advanced geospatial algorithms to map the optimal areas for conserving terrestrial species and ecosystems across the world. It further used spatially explicit land-use scenarios to quantify the land at risk from human activities by

How much land is inhabited by humans

This question is an interesting one because, when my friend asked me the other day, I could tell her confidently that not only did science know the answer, science had multiple different ways to quantify that answer, but that I had absolutely no idea what it was. Landcover is one key way that we can measure how much of the terrestrial environment has been covered by humans. The thing is, landcover is something that is changing and our technology to estimate it is improving constantly, so even fairly recent estimates may already be out of date. A meta-analysis in , which included studies of urban landcover using remote sensing technology such as satellite images, found that urban landcover increased by nearly 60, km 2 between and In the year , estimates suggest that globally, urban land covered somewhere between , and 3. The meta-analysis found that the largest rates of increase in urban landcover were seen in India, China and Africa, while North America experienced the largest total change since In all regions, urban land expanded either faster or equivalent to population growth rates, suggesting our societies are also becoming more expansive. Using data from to , the researchers then tried to project future urban land cover change — their results predict that global urban landcover will increase by a further 1. Over half-way to this prediction, where are we now? Artificial surfaces include any areas that have an artificial cover as a result of human activities such as construction cities, towns, transportation , extraction open mines and quarries or waste disposal. This figure gives us an estimate of roughly , km 2 of human-covered land worldwide. However, even non-urban areas contain roads, train tracks, farms and other marks of human domination. If we include this to our estimate of global human cover — we get a rather more sobering estimate of 19 million km 2.

You can fly for a long time and hardly see a sign of human existance along many parts of the continent. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Pianka "Land, they aren't making any more of it" -- Will Rogers Despite claims to the contrary, humans cannot live without food and water. One third of Earth's surface is desert which supports very few people. People can visit deserts but long-term survival in desert regions is very tenuous. Cities built in deserts like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tuscon, cannot exist without importing water or pumping groundwater out of deep aquifers. Indeed, they all face serious water shortages. Similarly, humans cannot sustain themselves for very long in mountains, though we often visit these regions on a temporary basis. Humans have occupied almost all of Earth's habitable lands.

Article, pp. The human population has doubled in the past 40 years and is projected to increase by the same amount again in the next The expansion of infrastructure and agriculture necessitated by this population growth has quickened the pace of land transformation and degradation. The current rate of land transformation, particularly of agricultural land, is unsustainable. We need a lively public discussion of the problems resulting from population pressures and the resulting land degradation. Herein, we focus on land use Fig. Vitousek , p. Figure 1. Many changes in land use are a consequence of the increase in human population and the resulting demand for more resources—among them, minerals, soil, and water.

How much land is inhabited by humans

A new global map measures urbanization from the new perspective of Travel Time to 8, Major Cities. The map fills an important gap in our understanding of economic, physical and even social connectivity. Cities exercise enormous control over national economies — even the global economy. They provide jobs, access to the best cultural, educational and health facilities and they act as hubs for communication and transport. Of course, they also cluster massive demands for energy, generate large quantities of waste, and concentrate pollution as well as social hardship. Our map raises the question: For how much longer will remote ecosystems remain remote? Many are crucial to the healthy functioning of our planet. How is life on Earth distributed across the taxonomic kingdoms? Humans make up just 0. Livestock now outweighs wild mammals and birds ten-fold.

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If we include this to our estimate of global human cover — we get a rather more sobering estimate of 19 million km 2. If all the habitable land on Earth were equally distributed among all human beings present on the planet, this is the per capita share of good land per person. Press Releases. A person living the profligate lifestyle of an average American requires almost 24 acres, ten times the world per capita share. Non-subscribers can email Thomas Worsdell to obtain a copy. Still, you are right about our small impact. A meta-analysis in , which included studies of urban landcover using remote sensing technology such as satellite images, found that urban landcover increased by nearly 60, km 2 between and We should convert sea water into sweat water and we should make canals for providing water in all deserts of the world and that area where rocky barren land where we put arable sand in this way our earth can support 40 billion people. So this means that out of units of land, we occupy three. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. You people are so loony. We contribute only about 0. She completed her PhD in on the social behaviour of dinosaur ants. Pianka "Land, they aren't making any more of it" -- Will Rogers Despite claims to the contrary, humans cannot live without food and water.

The analysis focuses on large swaths of land, about 3, square miles each, to account for the amount of habitat required by wide-ranging species. The study takes into account three measures of ecological integrity: habitat intactness, which is how human activity has affected the land; faunal intactness, which looks at species loss; and functional intactness, which focuses on species loss among animals that contribute to the health of an ecosystem.

Worsdell said the paper builds upon recent research that highlights that many people live in important biodiverse areas contain a wealth of Indigenous and local knowledge vital for place-based conservation efforts. Other creatures and plants have a much greater effect on what happens. All you have to do to get a correct answer to this dispute is to look out the window on a flight from east to west coast of North America. Did you actually write this? The meeting was due to take place in China later this year, but has been pushed back as a result of the COVID pandemic and is now set to take place between the th May next year. There were 7. Landcover is one key way that we can measure how much of the terrestrial environment has been covered by humans. However, even non-urban areas contain roads, train tracks, farms and other marks of human domination. Again, however, we have not allowed for any amenities such as highways, schools, hospitals, shopping malls, stadiums, agricultural fields, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, parks, golf courses, etc. Earthquakes can cause tsunamis which can kill hundreds of thousands of people, injuring countless others and destroy decades of human development in a matter of minutes. To move air from one place to other it is must that one area is hot and one area is cold at same time.