Land Use Change Impacts on Air Quality and Climate

Abstract

Historical land use and land cover change (referred to herein as “land use change”) has dramatically altered the Earth’s landscape, perturbing energy, moisture, and chemical fluxes and impacting the Earth’s climate. Land use change (LUC) in the next century has been projected to have profound impacts on regional climate. These changes connect to critical issues of food security, energy supply, and biodiversity. Large-scale perturbation of the biosphere will also play a major role in determining atmospheric composition, with implications for both air quality and climate. Our goal here is to review current understanding of the interplay between land use change and atmospheric chemistry, with a focus on short-lived atmospheric pollutants.