UCL academic tops citation ranks

Published in the journal 'Global Environmental Change' in 2001, the multi-author paper 'The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths' has been cited 39 times since publication.

According to Thomson ISI, the number of citations the paper has received places it in the top one per cent within its field. This makes the work highly influential, and proves that it is making a significant impact among peers.

The paper was produced as part of the international research collaboration 'Land Use and Cover Change' (LUCC), a programme element of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change.

"LUCC is an interdisciplinary programme aimed at improving the understanding of the land use and land cover change dynamics and their relationships with the global environmental change," said Professor Homewood. "The paper discusses major issues including tropical deforestation, rangeland modification, agricultural intensification, urbanisation and globalisation. We argue that mankind's use of the Earth's land surface is so pervasive that globally, this has major effects on Earth system functioning. It is vital therefore that land use and cover change is closely monitored on local, regional and global scales. The paper outlines the 26 researchers' assessments of the state of understanding on land change. Such efforts, supported by quantitative assessments, will lead to a deeper and more robust understanding of land-use and land-cover change and to more appropriate policy intervention."

Professor Homewood is Head of UCL Anthropology and an expert in human ecology, where she specialises in complementarity and conflicts between conservation and development in East and West African forest and grassland ecosystems. She concentrates on resource use, environmental impacts and implications for rural livelihoods in such areas.

To find out more, use the links at the top of this article.

Image: Professor Katherine Homewood

Links:

• Land Use and Cover Change
• UCL's Department of Anthropology