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If sustainability entails maintaining wellbeing over time, including environmental, economic, and social dimensions at local to global scales, Asia is its proving ground. The region is characterized by diverse climate, ecosystem, and social-historical conditions. It contains more than 60% of the global population, accounts for one-third of global GDP, consumes more than 60% of global materials, is a growing emitter of greenhouse gases, and is undergoing rapid demographic change and economic growth [1 ]. Moreover, Urbanization (see Figure 1) and industrialization have increased resource extraction, processing, transport, and consumption and waste generation, transforming local and regional environments at a pace and scale that is unprecedented in modern history. At the same time, significant disparities of wealth both within and between countries intensify social and ecological vulnerability to the potential impacts of climate change. This article suggests the region requires well-integrated researches by global environmental change (GEC) research community and sustainable development (SD) research community, and proposes formation of a special Future Asia (Futue Earth in Asia) network within the Future Earth initiative for global sustainability. |
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