The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: Relevance to climate-change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases

  • Roger A. Pielke
  • , Gregg Marland
  • , Richard A. Betts
  • , Thomas N. Chase
  • , Joseph L. Eastman
  • , John O. Niles
  • , Dev Dutta S. Niyogi
  • , Steven W. Running

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

678 Scopus citations

Abstract

Our paper documents that land-use change impacts regional and global climate through the surface-energy budget, as well as through the carbon cycle. The surface-energy budget effects may be more important than the carbon-cycle effects. However, land-use impacts on climate cannot be adequately quantified with the usual metric of 'global warming potential'. A new metric is needed to quantify the human disturbance of the Earth's surface-energy budget. This 'regional climate change potential' could offer a new metric for developing a more inclusive climate protocol. This concept would also implicitly provide a mechanism to monitor potential local-scale environmental changes that could influence biodiversity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1705-1719
Number of pages15
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Volume360
Issue number1797
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 15 2002

Keywords

  • Climate-system dynamics
  • Global climate change
  • Landscape change
  • Landscape dynamics
  • Regional climate change

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