The Asian Drylands Belt (ADB) covers 10.3% of global land area and 30% of total global drylands (>15 million km2). Despite being mostly landlocked, this region contains several important migration and trade routes, including the Silk Road, which connects east Asia to the west. The ADB region is confronted with a unique set of environmental and socioeconomic changes including water shortage-related environmental challenges and dramatic institutional changes since the collapse of the USSR. The social-environmental systems (SES) of the ADB are assessed using a conceptual framework rooted in the three pillars of sustainability science: social, economic, and ecological systems. The complex dynamics are explored with biophysical, socioeconomic, institutional, and local context-dependent mechanisms with a focus on institutions and land use land cover change as important drivers. With brief introduction of the ADB’s history, I present five pressing, practical challenges for the sustainability of the SES: (1) Reduced water quantity and quality under warming, drying, and escalating extreme events, (2) Continued, if not intensifying, geopolitical conflicts, (3) Volatile, uncertain, and shifting socioeconomic structures, (4) Volatile, uncertain, and shifting socioeconomic structures, and (5) Globalization and cross-country influences. While the sustainability of the ADB is certainly affected by climate, globalization, rapid urbanization, labor migration, and other widespread environmental and socioeconomic changes, LULCC is a key direct driver for the sustainability of the ADB landscapes and the region as a whole. These complex dynamics of SES need to be understood through linking the biophysical, socioeconomic, institutional, and local context-dependent mechanisms.
Mots clés : sustainability|drylands|social-environment|ADB
A103193JC