ABSTRACT
The original land covers of tropical landscapes are preconditioned by climate, topography, and soils. Human land use is partly in response to the opportunities from the land resources, but is mostly a function of people's needs and abilities to alter land use and land cover for their benefit. People who depend on natural resources utilize livelihood strategies to produce or acquire the food, fiber, and shelter they need. Health and nutrition are affected in many ways by these kinds of dynamics; for examples of these types of health patterns see Chapters 3 and 7. While the lands and landscapes in tropical latitudes are characterized by different biophysical environments and multiple land use types, they are all affected in fundamentally asymmetrical ways by current and future global environmental changes (Young 2007). In terms of human health, King and Bertino (2008) described the “asymmetries of poverty,” specifically highlighting the consequences of overlooking the effects of chronic infections (helminthiasis and infections caused by protozoa, bacteria, fungi), and other neglected tropical diseases.
