Establishing the mechanism of realizing the value of ecological product is an important way to realize land use change, agricultural production transformation and reduce environmental pollution. In recent years, consumers' demand for ecological products has been increasing while the supply is seriously insufficient. The realization of ecological product value faces various bottlenecks, including the realization mechanism of ecological product value, land use variation and the temporal dynamics of land use change, and the driving forces behind land dynamics and their socio-ecological feedbacks. Meanwhile, the relationship between the realization of ecological product value, land use transformation and changes in agricultural production mode are still unclear. In the process of realizing the value of ecological products, how to realize agricultural production and land use transformation, and environmental improvement is also a constant concern to be solved desperately.

This book aims to systematically elaborate how land-use change directly or indirectly exerts impacts on the ability of ecosystems to provide services for human society. The relationship between land use, ecosystem services and human well-being is a hot topic, and there have been some important achievements in this field, but its continuing growth means that it warrants further research. The unique viewpoint, the scientific analysis methods and the precise language of this book make it not only a valuable guide for professors conducting research, but also a reference resource to help governments make decisions on relevant policies. Prof. Jinyan Zhan is an associate professor at the School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, China.

Land use is central to many of the environmental and socio-economic issues facing society today. This report examines on-going challenges for aligning land-use policy with climate, biodiversity and food objectives, and the opportunities to enhance the sustainability of land-use systems.

The interaction between environmental change and human activities is com plex, requiring the concepts and tools of a number of disciplines for its effective analysis. Land-use and land-cover change has only recently become a topic susceptible to scientific research, as these concepts and tools have been devel oped and made available. Rooted in a broad community concemed with global change, systematic research has begun into land-use systems at different scales and interactions, and their links with global cyc1es of water, nitrogen and carbon are being explored. Partly based on research initiated by the Dutch National Research Programme on Global Air PolIution and Climate Change (NRP), this book touches upon various land-use and land-cover issues in relation to global environmental change. In addition to the biogeochemical cyc1es, land as a car rier for functions of economic activities, food and fibre production and energy production via biomass are discussed. Crucial in studying land use is human behaviour and man-environment interaction at different scales. Land-use and land-cover change is an important contrlbutor of greenhouse gasses as these activities directly interfere with the carbon, nitrogen and water cyc1es. These cyc1es are connected through numerous feedback loops. The interface of land-use and c1imate is essentially determined by the interaction of man and the environment. Man uses land primarily to produce food; a relatively small area is needed for urban development.

Recent claims regarding convergence and divergence between land change science and political ecology as approaches to the study of human-environment relationships and sustainability science are examined and analyzed in this innovative volume. Comprised of 11 commissioned chapters as well as introductory and concluding/synthesis chapters, it advances the two fields by proposing new conceptual and methodological approaches toward integrating land change science and political ecology. The book also identifies areas of fundamental difference and disagreement between fields. These theoretical contributions will help a generation of young researchers refine their research approaches and will advance a debate among established scholars in geography, land-use studies, and sustainability science that has been developing since the early 2000s. At an empirical level, case studies focusing on sustainable development are included from Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia. The specific topics addressed include tropical deforestation, swidden agriculture, mangrove forests, gender, and household issues.