Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production

Abstract

Human transformation of the planetary landscape is extensive and may have exceeded the land system change planetary boundary. The human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) method models the intensity of human pressure on the landscape at different scales. Globally, HANPP has doubled since 1900 and currently humans appropriate about 25% of the total net primary production of the planet. HANPP spatially correlates well with anthropogenic biomes, as “used” anthropogenic biomes generally correlate with high HANPP. In addition to the global scale, the HANPP method can also be used at regional, national, and local scales, though extrapolation of datasets from one scale to the next should be carefully considered. Embodied HANPP is used to better understand the effect of imports and exports, and shows that HANPP generally is transferred from rural to urban populations. As a model, HANPP does have a relatively high level of uncertainty, but appears to be an important measure of land transformation.