Abstract
Across South America, the expansion of commodity land uses has underpinned substantial economic development at the expense of natural land cover and associated ecosystem services. Here, we show that such human impact on the continent's land surface, specifically land use conversion and natural land cover modification, expanded by 268 million hectares (Mha), or 60%, from 1985 to 2018. By 2018, 713 Mha, or 40%, of the South American landmass was impacted by human activity. Since 1985, the area of natural tree cover decreased by 16%, and pasture, cropland, and plantation land uses increased by 23, 160, and 288%, respectively. A substantial area of disturbed natural land cover, totaling 55 Mha, had no discernable land use, representing land that is degraded in terms of ecosystem function but not economically productive. These results illustrate the extent of ongoing human appropriation of natural ecosystems in South America, which intensifies threats to ecosystem-scale functions.
Highlights
Our improved ability to monitor changes on the Earth’s surface via time series of satellite-based Earth observations is timely, given increasing rates of human-induced environmental change [1,2,3]
As increases in agricultural commodity production are linked to commodity land uses, no region on Earth is likely to have experienced the scale of land conversion for the sake of agricultural commodity production that South America has
The Chaco and Chiquitania ecosystems make up an important continuous extent of natural vegetation, one of the largest remaining in South America [12]
Summary
Our improved ability to monitor changes on the Earth’s surface via time series of satellite-based Earth observations is timely, given increasing rates of human-induced environmental change [1,2,3]. Growing global populations, increased levels of development, and the resulting greater interconnectedness have led to heightened demand for goods such as food, timber, minerals, and fuels, the production of which requires the transformation and appropriation of natural ecosystems through land cover and land use change [4]. As increases in agricultural commodity production are linked to commodity land uses, no region on Earth is likely to have experienced the scale of land conversion for the sake of agricultural commodity production that South America has. Tensions between expanding the area used for the production of agricultural commodities and preserving important natural ecosystems have long existed and have led to efforts to map and quantify changes in land cover and land use to better understand the dynamics, drivers, and consequences of change [4]
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