The present report is the fourth in a series of reports published every five years on environmental trends in the region. The report looks at the prevailing environmental conditions in the terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric systems and highlights the responses to environmental problems. It examines the relationship between environmental change and economic and social conditions. In addition, it reviews the national and regional responses to the problems of environment and sustainable development. It also presents key emerging issues in human ecosystems, which are described in terms of urban environment, wastes, poverty and food security. Finally, the report identifies key challenges and areas in which urgent action is needed, particularly in regard to regional and international collaboration efforts.

Why Asia? Significance and Purpose of The State of the Environment in Asia 1. Asia and the Future of the Global 2. From Swift Progress to Big Problems Environment Because in recent years Asia has been called the center of world economic growth, until now global attention fo Western social scientists used to regard Asia as a "stag cused on the region has regarded it solely as one of swift nant society," and, except for Japan, people have thought of progress. postwar Asia as a region that is typical of the continuing But while this East Asia-centered rapid economic "vicious circle of poverty." I growth gave Asia its momentum, industrialization and ur But in contrast to other developing regions, since the banization were causing environmental and urban problems latter half of the 1960s or 1970s South Korea, Taiwan, Hong throughout the region, as well as destroying rural communi Kong, and Singapore were the first to follow in Japan's foot ties and those countries' historical and cultural traditions.

Why Asia? Significance and Purpose of The State of the Environment in Asia 1. Asia and the Future of the Global 2. From Swift Progress to Big Problems Environment Because in recent years Asia has been called the center of world economic growth, until now global attention fo Western social scientists used to regard Asia as a "stag cused on the region has regarded it solely as one of swift nant society," and, except for Japan, people have thought of progress. postwar Asia as a region that is typical of the continuing But while this East Asia-centered rapid economic "vicious circle of poverty." I growth gave Asia its momentum, industrialization and ur But in contrast to other developing regions, since the banization were causing environmental and urban problems latter half of the 1960s or 1970s South Korea, Taiwan, Hong throughout the region, as well as destroying rural communi Kong, and Singapore were the first to follow in Japan's foot ties and those countries' historical and cultural traditions.

In December 1977 we published the first in this series of NGO-oriented reports on Asia's environment, Ajia Kankyo Hakusho 1997/98. This was published in English by Springer-Verlag as The State o/the Environment in Asia 1999/2000. Although only a few years have passed since then, Asia has seen tumultuous changes in the political, economic, social, environmental, and other domains, as well as a number of prominerit trends that could be regarded as harbingers of the new century. China, for instance, could henceforth decisively affect the evolution of environmental problems not only in Asia, but across the entire globe. Yet Chinese concern for and initiatives on pollution and environmental damage have increased more quickly than could have been anticipated just a few years ago. And on Taiwan, where a Democratic Progressive Party president was elected over the long-ruling Nationalist Party, an attorney who has cooperated with our pollution surveys for a decade, Hsieh Chang-ting, became mayor of Taiwan's largest heavy and chemical industry city of Kaohsiung, where he has begun a "Green Revolution. " On the Ko rean Peninsula, which has for many years endured the division of its people, as well as political and military tensions, there are the beginnings of a new North-South dialog. These changes are all welcome to those of us who wish to see new advances in environmental cooperation throughout Asia.