Deforestation is the clearance of forest or standing trees from land as it is converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can include the conversion of forest land to ranches or other agricultural activities. Important drivers of deforestation are the use of land for agriculture, ranching, infrastructure, urban expansion, and mining. Deforestation is often defined in relation to a cut-off date – e.g. all forest land cleared after June 2008 could be considered to be deforestation. Deforestation is a particular form of land use change. The concept is not commonly used to refer to types of land use change where other areas that may contain native vegetation (e.g. hay, marshes, savannas) are converted.