Despite a lack of quantitative data, it is clear that land-improving investments are creating a number of "bright spots" in the developing world (Scherr and Yadav, 1997; Lele, 2006). Investments to prevent land degradation will lead to further rehabilitation of ecosystems in the ESAP re­gion throughout the next few decades. In addition to in­vestments in organic agriculture, diversification into higher value perennial crops (in all ESAP countries), conservation farming (in Thailand, Philippines and other East Asian coun­tries, also promoted actively by the CG centers like IRRI and CIMMYT through their Rice-Wheat Consortium across the five countries in the Indo-Gangetic Plains), water manage­ment (in all ESAP countries), agroforestry (in India, China, Thailand, and some East Asian and Pacific countries), re­source conserving and pro-poor mechanization (by NAEF in Nepal), favorable property rights (Cambodia, Laos, Viet Nam), and several community-based NRM projects (in al­most all ESAP countries) are ongoing and will increase in scope and scale in the near future (Scherr and Yadav, 1997; Sethetal., 2003).
     A sector that has immense human health and ecosystem health/sustainability implications is the fisheries sector in the ESAP region. The sector has been experiencing a biological decline due to over-fishing, the spread of virus in the shrimp industry and other diseases. Conflict resolution among coun­tries sharing the seas in the region and between poor fishing villages along the coast and the large-scale fishing industry (large gear operators) financed by global or domestic capital is now a major concern in the South Asian and Southeast Asian countries (Salayo et al., 2006). International instru­ments such as the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries of the FAO, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the International Plan of Action for the Management of Fishing Capacity have addressed these issues, specifically prescribing codes for safeguarding the right to livelihoods for millions of fisherfolk and the critical issue of building and maintaining ecosystem health.
     Human ecosystems are increasingly polluted; air and water pollution are very high in some cities in Asia. In China, it is estimated that by 2025 pollution may reach intolerable levels. Eight of the ten most polluted cities in the world are in China, accounting for a loss of about 3-6 million life years (Bass and Steele, 2006). Air pollution is likely to pose severe constraints to agricultural production and productivity (Marshall et al., 1997). By 2020, Asian emissions of SO2, NOx and NH3 will be equal to or greater than the combined emissions from Europe and North Amer­ica (Galloway, 1995). Crop production adds to the N-load in the environment primarily due to increased use of fer­tilizers. A nitrogen balance model for east Asian countries projects that the N-load in 2020 due to food production-consumption and energy production will be 1.3 to 1.6 times times greater than it was in 2002 (Shindo et al., 2006). The trend of high N concentrations in groundwater in eastern and northern China, the Republic of Korea and Japan will continue. It is predicted that N-pollution (NH3) due to fertil­izer use and domestic animal wastes from China will surpass N-emissions and environmental accumulation levels in the United States by 2020 (Galloway et al., 1996). Anthropo­genic reactive nitrogen in Asia, most of which is accumu-

lated in the environment, will dramatically increase from current levels of about 67.7 Tg N yr1 in 2000 to 105.3 Tg N yr1 by 2030 (Zheng et al., 2002).
     Along with increasing demand for food and energy sup­plies, Asia lacks effective measures to improve the efficiency of fertilizer nitrogen use and to prevent NOx emissions from fossil-fuel combustion. Environmental N pollution may be lessened through the substitution of synthetic nitrogen fer­tilizers with high-efficiency nitrogen sources yet to be devel­oped. There is a need for open communication on current knowledge and uncertainties among government, industry and consumers (Hansen, 2002).
     The tradeoffs between trade liberalization and the en­vironment and poverty caused due to depleting natural re­sources are increasingly being recognized in Asia (UNEP, 2001). Generally, the economic benefits from trade liberal­ization are high, but the environment costs are also high (see Chapter 3 and 4.2.4). It will be increasingly important to have an assessment of the environmental and human liveli­hoods costs incurred for trade and find ways of financing and technically supporting conservation measures to reverse the damage, along with compensation for affected liveli­hoods, e.g., small-scale fisheries with depleted fish stocks due to deep sea trawling that destroys fingerlings necessary for fish breeding and growth.
     Many ESAP countries, desirous of conserving their agri­cultural biodiversity (plants and animals) attempt to comply with the Cartagena Protocol and CBD. Conservation re­sponses range from mandatory assessment of the impact of all programs, technologies and development interventions on the biological resources and access of the major stake­holders (such as farmers, herders, etc.) to these resources and natural environments in some countries to a ban on genetically modified crops and organisms in others.
     Increasing awareness of the erosion of genetic variability (due to monocultures of major cereals and selective breeding of crops and livestock) and of the inherent value of indige­nous and traditional knowledge systems, and the increasing importance of bioprospecting and patenting for industrial and pharmaceutical applications will lead to increasing in­vestment and legal assurances in the conservation of bio­diversity. To enhance local involvement and incentives to conserve agricultural biodiversity, governments, corporate sector and CSOs may encourage learning platforms as active repositories of indigenous practices of seed storage, cultiva­tion and conservation. Alternative cultivation systems, such as ecological agriculture, and ecotourism (around the theme of genetic wealth) that recognize the relevance of gene pools in local ecosystems and application in local diets/cultures may also be explored.
     A key dimension of environmental decision-making is the costs involved—often directly translated into closure, relocation  or  rehabilitation  of polluting  industries  and workers. In agriculture, the tradeoff between environmen­tal costs and the costs of setting aside land or entire produc­tion systems, are very high, complex, and involve millions of households that live entirely on agriculture. Many countries with shared resources will increasingly feel threatened by environmental security issues, adding to political tensions in ESAP (Nijam, 2005).