Introduction: the environment in Southeast Asia’s past, present and future

The environment is one of the defining issues of our times, and it is closely linked to questions and dilemmas surrounding economic development. It is at once a global issue, sometimes understood in terms of the very future of the planet, and a local one, involving people’s intimate interaction with their immediate surroundings. In this book, we choose to explore the environment at an intermediate scale, that of a world region – specifically, Southeast Asia.