Global COE Program - Kyoto University - In Search of Sustainable Humanosphere in Asia and Africa

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Initiative 1 studies the impact of the technology and institutions which human society had applied and imposed on the environment in Asia and Africa in historical perspective. It also seeks to determine the directions of technological and institutional changes in the future. Most of Asia and Africa we study are located in the tropics, and have environmental characteristics quite different from those in the temperate zones. Yet the path of economic and social development in Asia and Africa had historically been influenced by colonialism and the technology and institutions that Western powers had brought into the region.

It is obvious that the heart of the earth’s environmental dynamics lies in the tropics, as seen in terms of the amount of energy the earth absorbs from the sun, the speed and diversity of biological activities, and the force of material and energy flows. The faster growth of plants, for example, contributes to the recycling of carbon in a major way. And it is likely that more than a half of the world population will live in the tropics, especially in Asia and Africa, in the next hundred years. We therefore need to create a tropics-centered perspective of long-term dynamics, which would guide the future direction of technological and institutional change.

The main aim of Initiative 1 is to produce monographs and research papers relevant to such concerns. We will create a “humanosphere database”, in which a selection of data relating to environmental and social indices in the tropics will be accumulated. We will also develop a set of “local (and regional) sustainability index”, in which natural and social indicators would be blended, to help determine long-term humanosphere trends of targeted localities and regions.

 Towards our program goal

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