Environmental Research Letters (Jan 2022)
Sustainability challenges for the social-environmental systems across the Asian Drylands Belt
- Jiquan Chen,
- Ranjeet John,
- Jing Yuan,
- Elizabeth A Mack,
- Pavel Groisman,
- Ginger Allington,
- Jianguo Wu,
- Peilei Fan,
- Kirsten M de Beurs,
- Arnon Karnieli,
- Garik Gutman,
- Martin Kappas,
- Gang Dong,
- Fangyuan Zhao,
- Zutao Ouyang,
- Amber L Pearson,
- Beyza Şat,
- Norman A Graham,
- Changliang Shao,
- Anna K Graham,
- Geoffrey M Henebry,
- Zhichao Xue,
- Amarjargal Amartuvshin,
- Luping Qu,
- Hogeun Park,
- Xiaoping Xin,
- Jingyan Chen,
- Li Tian,
- Colt Knight,
- Maira Kussainova,
- Fei Li,
- Christine Fürst,
- Jiaguo Qi
Affiliations
- Jiquan Chen
- ORCiD
- Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States of America; Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America
- Ranjeet John
- ORCiD
- Department of Biology and Department of Sustainability, University of South Dakota , Vermillion, SD, 57069-2307, United States of America
- Jing Yuan
- Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America
- Elizabeth A Mack
- Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States of America; Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America
- Pavel Groisman
- ORCiD
- North Carolina State University at NOAA North Carolina State University , Asheville, NC 28801, United States of America; P P Shirshov Institute for Oceanology , Moscow 117997, Russia
- Ginger Allington
- Department of Geography, George Washington University , Washington, DC, United States of America
- Jianguo Wu
- School of Life Sciences and School of Sustainability, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287, United States of America
- Peilei Fan
- Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America; School of Planning, Design, and Construction , East Lansing, MI 48824, United States of America
- Kirsten M de Beurs
- ORCiD
- Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma , Norman, OK, United States of America
- Arnon Karnieli
- Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , 849900, Israel
- Garik Gutman
- NASA Headquarters , 300 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20546, United States of America
- Martin Kappas
- Cartography GIS & Remote Sensing Department, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Goldschmidtstr. 5, Goettingen , Göttingen, 37077, Germany
- Gang Dong
- ORCiD
- School of Life Sciences, Shanxi University , Taiyuan 030006, People’s Republic of China
- Fangyuan Zhao
- School of Life Sciences, Shanxi University , Taiyuan 030006, People’s Republic of China; National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081, People’s Republic of China
- Zutao Ouyang
- Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America; Earth System Science, Stanford University , CA 94305, United States of America
- Amber L Pearson
- Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States of America
- Beyza Şat
- ORCiD
- Faculty of Architecture and Design, Özyeğin University , İstanbul 34794, Turkey
- Norman A Graham
- James Madison College of Public Affairs, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America
- Changliang Shao
- Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America; National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081, People’s Republic of China
- Anna K Graham
- Department of Romance and Classical Studies, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America
- Geoffrey M Henebry
- ORCiD
- Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States of America; Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America
- Zhichao Xue
- Cartography GIS & Remote Sensing Department, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Goldschmidtstr. 5, Goettingen , Göttingen, 37077, Germany
- Amarjargal Amartuvshin
- Department of Economics, University of the Humanities , Ulaanbaatar 210620, Mongolia
- Luping Qu
- Forest Ecology and Stable Isotope Center, Forestry College, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University , Fuzhou 350002, People’s Republic of China
- Hogeun Park
- The World Bank , Washington, DC 20433, United States of America
- Xiaoping Xin
- National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081, People’s Republic of China
- Jingyan Chen
- Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, People’s Republic of China
- Li Tian
- ORCiD
- Qianyanzhou Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, People’s Republic of China
- Colt Knight
- Cooperative Extension, University of Maine , Orono, ME 04469, United States of America
- Maira Kussainova
- Sustainable Agriculture Center, Kazakh National Agrarian Research University , Almaty 050010, Kazakhstan
- Fei Li
- Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America; Grassland Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Hohhot 010010, People’s Republic of China
- Christine Fürst
- Institute for Geosciences and Geography, Department of Sustainable Landscape Development, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig; Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , Halle, Germany
- Jiaguo Qi
- ORCiD
- Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States of America; Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48823, United States of America
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac472f
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 17,
no. 2
p. 023001
Abstract
This paper synthesizes the contemporary challenges for the sustainability of the social-environmental system (SES) across a geographically, environmentally, and geopolitically diverse region—the Asian Drylands Belt (ADB). This region includes 18 political entities, covering 10.3% of global land area and 30% of total global drylands. At the present time, the ADB is confronted with a unique set of environmental and socioeconomic changes including water shortage-related environmental challenges and dramatic institutional changes since the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The SES of the ADB is assessed using a conceptual framework rooted in the three pillars of sustainability science: social, economic, and ecological systems. The complex dynamics are explored with biophysical, socioeconomic, institutional, and local context-dependent mechanisms with a focus on institutions and land use and land cover change (LULCC) as important drivers of SES dynamics. This paper also discusses the following five pressing, practical challenges for the sustainability of the ADB SES: (a) reduced water quantity and quality under warming, drying, and escalating extreme events, (b) continued, if not intensifying, geopolitical conflicts, (c) volatile, uncertain, and shifting socioeconomic structures, (d) globalization and cross-country influences, and (e) intensification and shifts in LULCC. To meet the varied challenges across the region, place-based, context-dependent transdisciplinary approaches are needed to focus on the human-environment interactions within and between regional landscapes with explicit consideration of specific forcings and regulatory mechanisms. Future work focused on this region should also assess the role of the following mechanisms that may moderate SES dynamics: socioeconomic regulating mechanisms, biophysical regulating mechanisms, regional and national institutional regulating mechanisms, and localized institutional regulating mechanisms.
Keywords
