作为地球表层的一个物种,人类生存与发展始终以最大限度的资源与环境占有和获取为第一需求,即使进入现代时期,情况依然如此。实际上,随着社会财富和人口的快速增长,人地关系的稳定与协调始终是各国、特别是人口大国（>1亿人口）持续发展的首要任务和基本目标。自然禀赋（淡水、耕地、草场、森林、能源和矿产）与人文活动（人口、GDP和碳排放）的要素综合分析表明,尽管11个对象国的资源环境秉赋（本底）特征差异明显,但是在资源环境开发的极化效应作用下,各国现代化进程的国家人地关系均呈现出不同程度的紧张状态。一方面,随着资源环境开发规模和深度的不断扩大,国家财富积累与人口数量快速增长;另一方面,环境恶化和资源枯竭对各国乃至全球有限的资源基础支撑能力造成日益严峻的挑战。此方面,日本的国家人地关系演进最具说服力。

As a part of the earth’s living creatures, we humans have been making use of natural resources and environment as our first need for survival and development, and this remains the same even in the modern period. In fact, with the rapid growth of social wealth and population, maintaining a stable of the so-called man-land relationship is always the primary task and basic goal of national sustainable development, especially for big countries. An integrated factor analysis covering natural endowment (fresh water, arable land, grassland, wood land, energy and minerals) and human activity (population, GDP and CO₂ emission) shows that there is one thing in common for all the 11 selected countries (>100 million people). Under the polarization effects of natural resources use, the national man-land relationship of these countries today have been proven to be aggravated and worsened in various degrees, although the characteristics of their natural endowments are very different. In 1950, for instance, there was only one country registered to have to deal with its overall intensified national man-land relationship, but in 2010 there were six countries. It is also important that the intensified national man-land relationship has been confirmed to play as an amplifier of the harm caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and droughts. Regarding these changes, the Japanese practice is the most convincing.