Amida Omari

Life Unlimited?
Professor M. Flower
Land use
Learning and researching about planetary boundaries has been challenging and surprising
especially when talking about having a safe operating space for humanity. In this essay I am going to
focus only on one of the planetary boundaries that is land use. Land use is characterized by the
arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover type to produce, change or
maintain it (FAO/UNEP, 1999). Land use is critically important when talking about planetary
boundaries because using land for agriculture affects global environmental change and it may threaten
biodiversity and decrease human well-being. Some of the other aspects that affect land use are
roadways for transportation, and residential and commercial construction, both of which cause
pollution issues, decrease wildlife habitat and eliminate some lands for farming.
Agriculture is one of the main aspects that affect land use in a greater scale. Currently about
12% of ice-free land surface is used for agriculture. Conversion of forests and other ecosystems to
agriculture land, has occurred at an average rate of 0.8% per year over the past 40-50 years, and is the
major global driver behind loss of ecosystem functioning and services (Ecology and Society, 2009).
Certain researchers propose a boundary of allowing no more than 15%, of the global ice- free land to
be converted to cropland (New Challenges 2009). Other researchers recommend that cropland should
be placed in the most productive areas. Productive land should be protected by controlling processes
that harm productive land, such as loss of irrigation water, urban development and bio-fuel production.
Conventional farming on croplands also affects the environment with the use of synthetic pesticides,
herbicides and fertilizers, and often genetically modified seed stock to maximize yields. In addition, the
chemical runoff from conventional farming techniques pollutes the ground water. The overall energy
usage and greenhouse gas emissions for conventional agriculture that comes from the production and

use of synthetic fertilizer also pollutes the environment (Earth Talk 2014).
Other types of land use to be concerned about are residential and commercial building. In states
other than Oregon, cities are allowed to sprawl everywhere and don't have enough resources to sustain
themselves. This is dangerous for biodiversity because when cities sprawl out of control they have
water problems, traffic problems, and animals don't have a place to live. In the next 20 years, urban
populations around the world are expected to soar from 3 billion to 5 billion. If the current rate of
urbanization holds steady, cities will account for nearly three-quarters of the world's energy demand by
2030, making them critical areas of focus for sustainable development (Urban development, 2014).
Cities nationwide will have the challenge of dealing with the population increases and planning for
how land can be used to sustain all life. "We need to learn that life in confined spaces and sustainability
are not mutually exclusive," says U.S. architect and urban planner Daniel Libeskind. "Combining the
two is currently the biggest challenge facing urban development" (Urban development, 2014).
Cities also will need to plan for how people can travel without relying on the car and roadways.
Transportation planning decisions influence land use directly, by affecting the amount of land used for
transport facilities, and indirectly, by affecting the location and design of development. For example,
expanding urban highways increases pavement area, and encourages more dispersed, automobile
oriented development (sprawl) (Littman, 2014). Expanding roads, as with the sprawl of houses, will
remove still more land from the available supply for wildlife and fresh water. There is a lot of runoff
with roads especially when it rains, and the water that comes from rain ends up on the roadway, gets
polluted and causes flooding. Construction of roads also reduces open space for gardens, parks, farms
and wildlife habitat, and increases storm water management costs, and degrades the natural beauty of
the landscape. People have become so dependent on the automobile for transportation that traffic has
become congested, and most cities try to decrease this by building more roads and freeways impacting
land use even more. With careful planning starting at the state level, some of these problems could be

resolved.
As I look at these land use problems, it seems that better planning on the state level down to
cities will be the best way to prevent the overuse of land and provide more sustainable environment for
all life. Agriculture can be managed in better a system that impacts the land less, and other nonagricultural areas can be protected for wildlife habitat. Construction of buildings also could utilize
smaller portions of land and provide access to services via walking or public transportation, which
would impact less land and decrease the need for more roads.
Some researchers think that agriculture is capable of preserving and improving biodiversity.
Some ways agriculture can be better managed is by choosing methods which enable high
Yielding crops on a limited area. Another method that farmers can use is advanced technology on the
farm, limiting the expansion of agricultural land and therefore protecting biodiversity. Conservation
tillage is an example of a farming practice that can protect biodiversity. It limits the disturbance of soil
and plant residue, which improves habitat and food sources for insects, birds and mammals. For
example: in a no-till field, quail need just 4.2 hours to find and eat the insects necessary for survival
less than one-fifth the time it takes to obtain the same number of insects in a conventional-till field
(Agriculture and Biodiversity, 2009). Organic farming is another option for agriculture that farmers
need to consider. Based on research from the Earth Talk journal, organic farming has the capacity to
reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent compared to conventional farming. There is
also the Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture that involves a group of agricultural organizations to
examine the U.S. crop supply chain program. Their work will become a platform for measuring,
promoting and reporting on continuous sustainability improvements for U.S. Crops, such as corn,
soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, and potatoes. The group also will measure sustainability indicators such
as land use, soil conservation, soil carbon, irrigated water use, water quality, energy use and
greenhouse gas emissions (U.S. Crop supply chain program, 2014).
Locally the Metro regional government manages urban planning and governs how cities live in

harmony with farm, water, and forest around the Portland metropolitan area. They try to keep
everything close where there are enough resources in order to protect forests and rivers. Oregon has
mandated protections for the land farmers can use for their agriculture, and it also limits businesses and
housing from taking the best agriculture land. The farmlands are rated on how productive the soil is,
and the state preserves the best land for agricultural use. It would be good for other states to have a
boundary like Oregon does on how people can develop enough land for themselves and protect land
for other living things. When Metro conducts urban planning they forecast how many people will be
living here in 2040. Metro also looks at where transportation should go and assures that people have
easy access to jobs and services like health care in a close space. Construction growth in the tri-county
area is contained in the Urban Growth Boundary to protect the farmlands from urban sprawl.
Other states and cities also are looking into ways to provide more sustainable environments
through land-use and energy efficiency. We're starting to see some improvements such as switching to
energy-efficient LED lighting in buildings and streetlights or setting aside bike lanes and widening
sidewalks to encourage alternatives to driving. But other initiatives are more ambitious, requiring new
construction or even an extensive rebuilding of city infrastructure. There is a gradual change taking
shape as municipalities are looking at more sustainable ways of shaping rapid urbanization, (Urban
development, 2014).
Transportation planning also can help decrease roadway and freeway construction. Walking,
cycling, and public transit improvements are known to encourage compact, infill development. So
clearly the way we use cars has a bad effect and needs to be considered when planning land use.
Getting people to use more public transportation or car pooling will be better than having one person in
a car and it will help prevent further spread of construction on roads. With the growing population the
use of land increases and the need for optimum utilization of land resources has much greater
relevance. Another way some researchers propose to change land-use patterns is by using Global

Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Geo-spatial technologies like
photogrammetric, satellite remote sensing, GPS and GIS play a vital role in providing precise
information on nature, extent, and spatial distribution of land resources to assess their potentials and
limitations for planning, monitoring and management towards sustainable development (Geospatial,
2014). These technologies are rapidly advancing land resources inventories, mapping and generation of
databases on a regular basis for better planning, management, monitoring and implementing the land
use plans at large scales.
My overall take on land use so far is that the problems that have occurred that affect the
environment and all living things is due to there not being enough controls on how much land people
can use. In order to sustain life into the future, certain limitations set by laws and regulations must
occur. Oregon already has set an example of how legal regulations can control land use and protect
forest, farmlands and water. It would be best if other states and other countries followed the policies
and methods that Oregon has mandated on how much land should be used for industrial and residential
construction and allowed for more green space. Planning plays an important role when talking about
land use on how to prevent it from reaching the planetary boundaries, and humans must know that they
are not the only living being on this planet. If we continue to take away more space and forget about
the other living things then we will lose the safe operating space for humanity, and the responsibility to
plan for sustainability falls on us as thinking human beings. As for the issues stated in this paper, it
appears with careful planning solutions can be reached. In regard to agriculture, it seems that we have
to try one or two of the solutions for using a small portion of productive land to see how it works and
how much it can produce more than just sitting down and not trying anything. For me I would say it is
a good idea that the transportation department is trying to figure out how to make people use public
transport more than using one car per person. It won't just benefit us from spending more money on gas
but also save us from polluting the environment even further more than we already have. Other
problems that I found with land use are that some people try to focus only one place especially for

agriculture. There is a lot of land but it could be used more efficiently which would use less
maintenance around the world and that can save half of the planet. However, we try to ignore it and we
try to focus more on developing places. It will be great if we expand our solution on how to save more
land around the globe and figure out how much humans can use in each place and country. This would
leave the rest of the land to other living things, and it will be less dangerous and better for all of us.