Cultural landscapes are a product of the interactions between humans and natural settings. They are landscapes and seascapes that are shaped by human history and land use. Socioeconomic processes especially, but also environmental changes and natural disturbances, are some of the forces that make up landscape dynamics. To understand and manage such complex landscapes, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are necessary, emphasizing the integration of natural and social sciences and considering multiple landscape functions. The spatial patterns of Asian landscapes are strongly related to human activities and their impacts. Anthropogenic patterns and processes have created numerous traditional cultural landscapes throughout the region, and understanding them requires indigenous knowledge. Cultural landscape ecology from a uniquely Asian perspective is explored in this book, as are the management of landscapes and land-use policies. Human-dominated landscapes with long traditions, such as those described herein, provide useful information for all ecologists, not only in Asia, to better understand the human-environmental relationship and landscape sustainability.

Inhalt

Preface.- Part 1. Understanding Asian Cultural Landscapes.- 1. Historical perspectives on the relationships between humanity and nature in Japan.- 2. Eco-cultural diversity in island and coastal landscapes: conservation and development.- 3. Ethnic culture and nature: interactions in the Hani terrace landscape.- 4. The characteristic of cultural landscapes in Malaysia: concept and perspective.- 5. Introducing geo-cultural landscapes in Iran.- 6. Cultural landscapes of the Tengger Highland, East Java.- 7. Traditional forests in villages linking man and nature landscapes.- 8. 'Cho-bun', the anthropogeneous landscape in Haui Island, Southwestern Korea.- 9. Human impact on coastal sand dune ecosystem in Korea.- 10. Have the ecological human rights been globally lost? A conflict of ecological spatial requirements and cultural landscape opportunities in the modern Homo sapiens.- Part 2. Measuring and Managing Patterns and Processes of Cultural Landscapes.- 11. A methodological framework to quantify anthropogenic effects on landscape pattern.- 12. Analysis of factors affecting the landscape dynamics of islands in western Japan.- 13. Creating pondscapes for avian communities: an artificial neural network experience beyond urban regions.- 14. Integrating geographic information into scenic assessment of middle landscapes.- 15. Sustainable management of Satoyama bamboo landscapes in Japan.- 16. Characteristics of the spatial distribution, vegetation structure and management systems of Shrine, Temple forests as urban green space: The case of Kitakyushu City.- 17. Conservation and management of the coastal pine forest as a cultural landscape.- 19. Restoring Central Asian floodplain ecosystems as natural capital and cultural heritage in a continental desert environment.- Part 3. Concluding Remarks.- 20. Integrating nature and culture in landscapeecology.