Editing Environmental factor (section)

== Socioeconomic drivers ==
Global change is driven by many factors; however the five main drivers of global change are: population growth, economic growth, technological advances, attitudes, and institutions.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Liverman D, Yarnal B, Turner II BL | date = 2003 | chapter = The Human Dimensions of Global Change. | title = Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century | veditors = Gaile GL, Willmott CJ | pages = 267–282 | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press }}</ref> These five main drivers of global change can stem from [[Shared Socioeconomic Pathways|socioeconomic]] factors which in turn, these can be seen as drivers in their own regard.  Socioeconomic drivers of climate change can be triggered by a social or economic demand for resources such as a demand for timber or a demand for agricultural crops.  In tropical deforestation for instance, the main driver is economic opportunities that come the extraction of these resources and the conversion of this land to crop or rangelands.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lambin EF, Turner BL, Geist HJ, Agbola SB, Angelsen A, Bruce JW, Coomes OT, Dirzo R, Fischer G, Folke C, George P | display-authors = 6 | title = The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths. | journal = Global Environmental Change | date = December 2001 | volume = 11 | issue = 4 | pages = 261–269 | doi = 10.1016/S0959-3780(01)00007-3 | bibcode = 2001GEC....11..261L | url = https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/247795988/Lambin2001causes.pdf }}</ref> These drivers can be manifested at any level, from the global level demand for timber all the way to the household level.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

An example of how socioeconomic drivers affect [[climate change]] can be seen in the [[Soybean|soy bean trading]] between Brazil and China. The trading of soy beans from to [[Brazil]] and [[China]] has grown immensely in the past few decades. This growth in trade between these two countries is stimulated by socioeconomic drivers. Some of the socioeconomic drivers in play here are the rising demand for Brazilian soy beans in China, the increase in [[land use change]] for soy bean production in Brazil, and the importance of strengthening foreign trade between the two countries.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Liu J, Hull V, Batistella M, DeFries R, Dietz T, Fu F, Hertel TW, Izaurralde RC, Lambin EF, Li S, Martinelli LA, McConnell WJ, Moran EF, Naylor R, Ouyang Z, Polenske KR, Reenberg A, de Miranda Rocha G, Simmons CS, Verburg PH, Vitousek PM, Zhang F, Zhu C | display-authors = 6 | title = Framing sustainability in a telecoupled world. | journal = Ecology and Society | date = June 2013 | volume = 18 | issue = 2 | doi = 10.5751/ES-05873-180226 | s2cid = 8461510 | hdl = 10535/9132 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> All of these socioeconomic drivers have implications in climate change. For instance, an increase in the development for soy bean croplands in Brazil means there needs to be more and more land made available for this resource. This causes the general land cover of forest to be converted into croplands which in its own regard has an impact on the environment.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Turner II BL, Meyer W | date = 1994 | chapter = Global Land-Use and Land-Cover Change: An Overview. | title = Changes in Land Use and Land Cover: A Global Perspective | veditors = Meyer W, Turner II BL | pages = 3–9 | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press }}</ref> This example of land use change driven by a demand of a resource, isn't only happening in Brazil with soy bean production.{{cn|date=June 2023}}
[[File:Crawfish Farming - Acadia Parish Louisiana 2020.jpg|thumb|Harvesting crawfish in Acadia Parish, Louisiana.]]

Another example came from The [[Renewable Energy Directive 2009]] Union when they mandated [[biofuel]] development for countries within their membership. With an international socioeconomic driver of increasing the production biofuels comes affects in land use in these countries. When agricultural cropland shift to bioenergy cropland the original crop supply decreases while the global market for this crop increases. This causes a cascading socioeconomic driver for the need for more agricultural croplands to support the growing demand. However, with the lack of available land from the crop substitution to biofuels, countries must look into areas further away to develop these original croplands. This causes spillover systems in countries where this new development takes place. For instance, African countries are converting savanna's into cropland and this all stems from the socioeconomic driver of wanting to develop biofuels.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Eakin H, DeFries R, Kerr S, Lambin EF, Liu J, Marcotullio PJ, Messerli P, Reenberg A, Rueda X, Swaffield SR, Wicke B, Zimmerer Z | display-authors = 6 | date = 2014 | chapter = Significance of telecoupling for exploration of land-use change. | title = Rethinking Global Land Use in an Urban Era | pages = 141–161 | publisher = MIT Press | isbn = 978-0-262-02690-1 }}</ref> Furthermore, socioeconomic driver that cause land use change don't all occur at an international level. These drivers can be experienced all the way down to the household level. Crop substitution doesn't only come from biofuel shifts in agriculture, a big substitution came from Thailand when they switched the production of opium poppy plants to non-narcotic crops. This caused Thailand's agricultural sector to grow, but it caused global rippling effects ([[opium replacement]]).{{cn|date=June 2023}}

For instance, in Wolong China, locals use forests as fuelwood to cook and heat their homes. So, the socioeconomic driver in play here is the local demand for timber to support subsistence in this area. With this driver, locals are depleting their supply for fuelwood so they have to keep moving further away to extract this resource. This movement and demand for timber is in turn contributing to the loss of pandas in this area because their ecosystem is getting destroyed.<ref name="pmid17872436">{{cite journal | vauthors = Liu J, Dietz T, Carpenter SR, Alberti M, Folke C, Moran E, Pell AN, Deadman P, Kratz T, Lubchenco J, Ostrom E, Ouyang Z, Provencher W, Redman CL, Schneider SH, Taylor WW | display-authors = 6 | title = Complexity of coupled human and natural systems | journal = Science | volume = 317 | issue = 5844 | pages = 1513–1516 | date = September 2007 | pmid = 17872436 | doi = 10.1126/science.1144004 | bibcode = 2007Sci...317.1513L | s2cid = 8109766 | url = http://ir.rcees.ac.cn/handle/311016/22368 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>

However, when researching local trends the focus tends to be on outcomes instead of on how changes in the global drivers affect outcomes.<ref>{{cite report | vauthors = Downing TE, Ziervogel G, Patwardhan A | publisher = Stockholm Environment Institute. | title = Linking Global and Local Scenarios under Climate Change. | date = 2003 | jstor = resrep00343 }}</ref> With this being said, community level planning needs to be implemented when analyzing socioeconomic drivers of change.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

In conclusion, one can see how socioeconomic drivers at any level play a role in the consequences of human actions on the environment. These drivers all have cascading effects on land, humans, resources, and the environment as a whole. With this being said, humans need to fully understand how their socioeconomic drivers can change the way we live. For instance, going back to the soy bean example, when the supply can't meet the demand for soy beans the global market for this crop increases which then in turn affects countries that rely on this crop for a food source. These affects can cause a higher price for soy beans at their stores and markets or it can cause an overall lack of availability for this crop in importing countries. With both of these outcomes, the household level is being affected by a national level socioeconomic driver of an increased demand for Brazilian soy beans in China. From just this one example alone, one can see how socioeconomic drivers influence changes at a national level that then lead to more global, regional, communal, and household level changes. The main concept to take away from this is the idea that everything is connected and that our roles and choices as humans have major driving forces that impact our world in numerous ways.{{cn|date=June 2023}}