ABSTRACT
The major environmental problems afflicting South-East Asia at the present time include rapid deforestation, accelerated land degradation, degradation of water resources, and the rapid growth of urban centres. There is a growing awareness and recognition of such problems throughout the region, as exemplified by many of the contributions to this volume. But the nature and extent of these problems are imperfectly documented, and regional synthesis is dogged by data uncertainty. The linkages between human activity and progressive environmental change have been explored elsewhere, and are summarized in this volume for South-East Asia. However, there have been relatively few systematic longitudinal studies of the nature and dynamics of the processes involved in environmental change in South-East Asia. Attempts to form strategies for sustainable development of the region have thus frequently been hampered by imperfect knowledge of the nature and rates of recent change.
