Land Use Science in Action

Land-Cover and Land-Use Change at the Frontier: Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors Influencing Land Cover and Land-Use Changes in the Cerrado Biome

Characterizing land-use transitions helps combat climate change impacts and informs land-use policy

• The most biologically diverse savanna on earth is a major frontier of LCLUC
• It is yet unknown where high-impact land-use transitions are concentrated and the main drivers of those changes
• Urgent need to develop detection methods and novel data sets to inform decision-making a to address biodiversity loss and mitigate climate change impacts
• Use of Earth Observation data, time series analyses,  and machine learning algorithms to expand the spatial and temporal data on agricultural development and a novel data set on irrigated agriculture in combination with spatial analyses of socioeconomic influences

Fates of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation in Central America are inextricably linked to U.S. drug policy

DIFFERENT APPROACH TO U.S. DRUG POLICY NEEDED TO MEET CONSERVATION GOALS

• Counterdrug interdiction pushes cocaine trafficking into biodiverse landscapes.
• Analyses integrating remote sensing and socioeconomic data can identify and quantify land use/cover-change caused by illicit economies.
• Urgent need for such analyses to inform action to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss in Central America.
• NASA’s role in Earth observation is essential for evaluating long-running U.S. policies.
• Long-term effects of U.S. drug policy undermine international conservation efforts.

Hotter and drier growing seasons in Serbia are driving shifts in agricultural practices and irrigation decisions

POTENTIAL INCREASES IN WATER SCARCITY AS THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR ADAPTS

• Water scarcity in agricultural regions is worsening as the Earth warms.
• Urgent need for local and regional analyses to formulate precision adaptation measures.
• Analyses integrating remote sensing, hydrological modeling, and economic modeling can
  project future water scarcity and farmers’ responses via crop choice and irrigation investment.
• NASA’s Earth observations are critical to track short-term (crop growth and seasonal water
  use) and long-term (crop system transitions, irrigation investment) agricultural responses to
  drought and target climate adaptation measures.