Meeting the environmental challenges

Environmental problems such as soil and water pollution, geohazards, land degradation, and desertification are seriously constraining the sustainable development of human society. Finding effective measures to meet these environmental challenges is critical. This article introduced the background of editing this special issue, and the main environmental challenges faced by human were briefly reviewed. Two large-scale scientific programs currently underway in China, the Yellow River Scientific Program and the Qinling Mountains Scientific Program were introduced, and finally building the community with a shared future was proposed as a potential way of meeting the environmental challenges.