A global land-use data cube 1992–2020 based on the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production

Land use is intimately linked to key components of the Earth system, including the climate system, biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles. Advanced understanding of patterns and dynamics of land use is vital for assessing impacts on these system components and for developing strategies to ensure sustainability. However, thematically detailed data that enable the analyses of spatiotemporal dynamics of land use, including land-use intensity, are currently lacking. This study presents a comprehensive land-use data cube (LUIcube) that traces global land-use area and intensity developments between 1992 and 2020 annually at 30 arcsecond spatial resolution. It discerns 32 land-use classes that can be aggregated to cropland, grazing land, forestry, built-up land and wilderness. Land-use intensity is represented through the framework of Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production, which allows to quantify changes in NPP, respectively biomass flows, induced by land conversion and land-management. The LUIcube provides the necessary database for analyzing the role of natural and socioeconomic drivers of land-use change and its ecological impacts to inform strategies for sustainable land management.