ABSTRACT
Over the last 10,000 years large areas of Earth’s terrestrial surface have undergone radical changes as the growing world population has used land for its various needs. The most important human land-use activities include the clearance or commercial use of forests, agriculture and the expansion of human settlements (Foley et al., 2005). Farmland alone, comprising both cropland and pastures, now covers around 40 per cent of the land surface (Foley et al., 2005). Almost a quarter of Earth’s potential net primary production is already subject to human influence through harvesting, productivity changes resulting from land use, and fires (Haberl et al., 2007).
