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
