Land Use and Cover Change

Abstract

This book is a synthesis of ten years of research conducted in the framework of the Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC) project of the International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). The authors are grateful to a large num- ber of people for contributions of various types. Past and current members of the LUCC Scientific Steering Committee and International Project Offices have con- tributed their expertise and enthusiasm to the project. As editors, we are most grateful for the support of the Federal Science Policy Office from the Services of the Prime Minister of Belgium. In August 2000, the Belgian Science Policy Office (www.belspo.be) made possible the establishment and operation of an International Project Office of the Land-Use/Cover Change (LUCC) project at the Department of Geography of the Université Catholique de Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. This meant half a decade of productive land-use/cover change research and project management. The synthesis volume owes much to the benevolent financial support from the Belgian Science Policy Office and likewise to the efficient infrastructural services provided by the host university.