LAND DEFINED

The common sense definition of land is “that solid potion of the earth’s surface” on which we stand, walk, build our homes, raise our gardens, or produce our crops (Serote, p.2).

The limitations of this definition are the following :

a.       It needs further elaboration as to will it include the water, air (gas) found on the earth’s surface or the water in solid form such as the polar ice caps;

b.      The freedom to do what we normally do like build our houses, raise our crops because of certain geophysical, environmental, social and economic factors that constrain us from making use of any piece of land, and:

c.       Good lands located between extreme environmental conditions are no longer freely available (Serote, 2004:2-3.)

From the legal standpoint land is defined as any ground, soil or earth that is regarded as the subject of ownership, and everything annexed to it whether by nature (e.g. trees, water) or by man (e.g. buildings, crops) extending indefinitely vertically upwards and downwards (Serote, 2004:3). For example, we can stop our neighbor from extending their sewerage that dumps kitchen wastes and sewage to our garden. Another example is, we can build our house up to our desired height. However, this is subject to certain restrictions and limits set by the zoning and land use regulations of the area which normally take into consideration the geology of the land where the building is to be constructed as well as the air space for air planes and the public view as in the case of DMCI Building near Rizal Park in Manila. It can be said, therefore, that the right of the owner to develop the land is not absolute. Public interest and the general welfare are of high importance.

Land is a natural resource but it can also be “man-made.” As such, it is often regarded as a good or a commodity that can be supplied to meet certain requirements for the satisfaction of human wants . Land is scarce simply because the human population keeps growing while the gross supply of land is fixed. Also, not all earth’s surface has immediate value for human use. There is also social dimension to land scarcity. Few powerful clans and rich families have appropriated too much land for themselves, especially the good productive lands, leaving the marginal ones to be divided up by the majority. Often many people end up not having any share at all (Serote, 2004:5)

As a factor of production, land is taken along with the capital, labor and management. The traditional understanding of land as a production factor is that it provides the physical base, the platform, site or location where the production process takes place. Example of a land used as a physical base are, the site for a manufacturing plant, a shopping mall, or an office tower. As a direct input, land maybe used for crop growing, livestock raising, dairying, fisheries, mining, and quarrying (Serote, 2004:6).

Land, from the ecological sense, means “the natural environment and its attributes… the surface of the earth and all its attributes.” The natural attributes of land include the macro-and micro-climate, hydrology and other climatic conditions; the geology, topography and soils; and the plant and animal communities that live in it (Serote, 2004:9) Hence, water is part of the land.

Land, in its primeval state and with its vegetative cover, it continues to provide some intrinsic environmental value. This intrinsic value could be destroyed if land were developed and put to some other use than that in which it came in nature. The introduction of human labor and capital on the land may bestow economic value on the land but this may completely destroy its intrinsic environmental value (e.g. logging of rainforest or draining of mangrove swamps.) (Serote, 2004:10).

Dynamics of Land Use and Land Cover Change

          The process and dynamics of land use and land cover change start with the rapid population growth in urban areas which was mainly resulted from migration of rural to urban areas. This increase in population had a plausible effect of increase in pressure on the limited resource-base, and significantly contributed to the expansion of urban land by deforestation and infilling of low-lying areas. (Hassan et. al, 2016). According to Lambin et. al., climate-driven land-cover modifications interact with land-use changes. Land-use change is driven by synergistic factor combinations of resource scarcity leading to an increase in the pressure of production on resources, changing opportunities created by markets, outside policy interventions, loss of adaptive capacity, and changes in social organization and attitudes (Lambin, et.al., 2003)

References:

Serote, Ernesto M.,Property, Patrimony and Territory, Foundations of Land Use Planning in the Philippines, UP-SURP and UP-Planades, Quezon City 2004

Hassan, Zahra, et. al, Dynamics of Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) using geospatial Techniques: A Case Study of Islamabad Pakistan published in 2016 retrieved at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4916107/ on February 4, 2018

Lambin, Eric F., et al, Dynamics of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Tropical Regions, Department of Geography, University of Louvain, Belgium, 2003, retrieved at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/959f/a2238675b85c4b797aba604bbde3356feefe.pdf on February 4, 2018