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Land use change in Asia and the ecological consequences

  • Special Issue
  • Global changes in terrestrial ecosystems
  • Published:
Ecological Research

Abstract

Viewed within a historical context, Asia has experienced dramatic land transformations, and currently more than 50% of Asian land area is under agriculture. The consequences of this transformation are manifold. Southeast Asia has the highest deforestation rate of any major tropical region. Many of the world’s large rivers and lakes in Asia have been heavily degraded. About 11 of 19 world megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants are in Asia. These land use activities have resulted in substantial negative ecological consequences, including increased anthropogenic CO2 emissions, deteriorated air and water quality, alteration of regional climate, an increase of disease and a loss of biodiversity. Although land use occurs at the local level, it has the potential to cause ecological impact across local, regional and global scales. Reducing the negative environmental impacts of land use change while maintaining economic viability and social acceptability is an major challenge for most developing countries in Asia.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was invited for a presentation at the 90th International Congress of Ecology (INTECOL) Symposium of “Ecological Impacts of Asia on Global Sustainability at Multiple Scales”, August 7–12, 2005, Montreal, QC, Canada. We thank Dr. Jingyun Fang and two reviewers for their valuable comments on the draft of manuscript. This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40228001) and partly supported by the State Key Fundamental Science Funds of China (No. 2001CB309401), Chinese Academy of Sciences International Partnership Project “Human Activities and Ecosystem Changes” (CXTD-Z2005-1), Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Canada Research Chair program. S.Q. Zhao acknowledges receipt of a Postdoctoral Fellowship from University of Quebec at Montreal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des sciences de l’environnement, Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Quebec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3C 3P8

    Shuqing Zhao, Changhui Peng, Xiangdong Lei & Xiaolu Zhou

  2. Institute of Geographical Science and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Changhui Peng

  3. International Research Center of Spatial Ecology and Ecosystem Ecology, Zhejiang Forestry University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 31130, China

    Hong Jiang

  4. International Institute of Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangshu, 210093, China

    Hong Jiang

  5. College of Life Science and Technology, Central-South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China

    Dalun Tian

  6. Institute of Forest Resource Information Techniques, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Xiangdong Lei

  7. Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, 588 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1A 0Y7

    Xiaolu Zhou

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  1. Shuqing Zhao
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Correspondence to Changhui Peng.

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Zhao, S., Peng, C., Jiang, H. et al. Land use change in Asia and the ecological consequences. Ecol Res 21, 890–896 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-006-0048-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-006-0048-2

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