This book constitutes a synthesis of the NASA funded work since 1996 on Land Use and Land Cover Change research. This book is a collection of papers based on the projects conducted, for the most part, under the NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change Program during recent years with an emphasis on projects that comprised the first phase of the program (1996-2001). It represents a compilation of state-of-the-art research results devoted to changes in land cover and land use, an analysis of their causes, methods for their detection, their monitoring, their impacts on climate and environment, and lessons learned. This is the most organized effort to understand the dominant force that has been responsible for changing the Earth?s biosphere. As such, the results are of both scientific and policy interest. The study of land use is needed to provide the scientific underpinning for improved land use decision making.