Proceedings from 2014 Global Land Project (GLP) Asia Conference

Dear Colleagues,

Ecosystems provide multiple beneficial nature-based goods, functions, and services to human beings and society. Many of these benefits are linked to positive outcomes in human health. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) proposed the definitions and scopes of ecosystem services. In recent years, a substantial amount of research has discussed the dependence of public health on ecosystem services. Such services include water and soil regulation and preservation; water and air filtration; biodiversity and habitat conservation; climate and natural hazard stabilization and mitigation; food, fuel, and fiber production; and the provision of aesthetic environments for recreation, education, and mental health. Accordingly, human and societal well-beings depend on the appropriate management and conservation of ecosystems (and their concomitant service provisions) throughout the globe.

Recent systematic reviews of the research literature that discusses the connections between ecosystem services and public health have found articles in fields of landscape and urban planning, as well as in land use management. Most of those studies highlight the necessity of understanding and quantifying changes of land use/cover patterns and of ecosystem services, which are induced by complex interactions between natural processes and the social drivers that ensure the sustainability of ecosystem services and environmental resources.

To illuminate these interactions, this Special Issue links to the 2014 Global Land Project (GLP) Asia Conference on Sustainable Land Use and Ecosystem Management. Accordingly, this Special Issue focuses on advanced methodologies of data retrieval and qualitative and/or quantitative model applications. The issue scope also embraces epistemic reasoning and discussion regarding the land cover and ecosystem managing strategies used to achieve sustainable use of ecosystem services and natural resources. Such discussions illustrate these resources’ connections with human/public health. Research papers on novel and concise techniques that encompass current developments of such studies are particularly welcome.

Prof. Dr. Yu-Pin Lin
Guest Editor

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