Land consumption

Land consumption as part of human resource consumption is the conversion of land with healthy soil and intact habitats into areas for industrial agriculture, traffic (road building) and especially urban human settlements.

Since often aforementioned conversion activities are virtually irreversible, the term land loss is also used.

[3] In European Union, land take is estimated approximately about to 1.2 million hectares in 21 EU countries over the period 1990–2006.

[4] Urban growth reduces open space in and around cities, impacting biodiversity and ecosystem servicesLand loss can also happen due to natural factors, like erosion or desertification - nevertheless most of those can also eventually be tracked back to human activities.

Again, in most cases, this will be due to economic reasons like search for profitable investment and commodification of natural resources.