LOCAL FACES, GLOBAL FLOWS - THE ROLE OF LAND-USE AND LAND-COVER IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL-CHANGE

The emergence of land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) as one of the m ajor themes within the global environmental change research community poses a series of difficult but not insurmountable problems. LUCC take s place incrementally through the operation of sets of human and bioph ysical forces largely specific to the locale in question, but cumulati vely LUCC contributes significantly to global environmental change. Li nking LUCC to global change requires the cooperation of the natural an d social sciences to bridge the local to global dynamics involved. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme are undertaking the developme nt of an international research project with such aims in mind. This p roject seeks to improve understanding of LUCC dynamics by balancing th e need for a nuanced understanding at the local level with the need fr om improved regional and global LUCC models. The rudiments of this eff ort and some of problems confronting it are outlined here.