"人类世"(Anthropocene)一词是由大气化学家诺贝尔奖得主Crutzen与生态学家Stoermer在2000年首次正式提出的,一经提出即在学术界引发广泛讨论。当前,相关国际会议上有关人类世的议题逐渐增多,国际上一些相关的研究计划和新期刊也陆续推出,人类世问题已成为环境科学、地球科学、考古学、生物学及其他相关学科领域的一个研究热点。目前国际人类世研究前沿热点集中在人类活动驱动的地球系统变化、人类世下限的确定等方面；研究焦点是找到一个确定人类世的边界或标志物——地质学界公认的"金钉子"(GSSP)。人类世是在人类活动引起的全球性环境问题这一背景下提出的,强调人类活动也是一种重要的地质营力,其对地球改造的程度与后果足以与传统意义上的地质营力(地震、造山运动等)产生的影响相匹敌。由于中国巨大的人口规模和有限的生存空间,在过去几十年中对国土地理环境改造的幅度是空前的,因此从未来既要提升人民生活质量和促进经济社会发展,又要保护好国土环境与自然资源,实现人与自然和谐发展的角度而言,在中国开展人类世问题研究不但具有极其重要的科学意义,而且具有更大的现实意义。针对我国人类世问题的研究现状,提出了设立人类世专业委员会、组织召开人类世研究学术会议、参与人类世研究国际有关的组织与相关协会、资助人类世研究计划与项目等以推动人类世研究工作深入发展的建议。

The "Anthropocene" was first formally proposed by the Nobel Prize winner and atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen and ecologist Eugene F. Stoermer in 2000. Since then,there has been widespread discussions on it in scientific community. Currently, with the issues related to the Anthropocene increasing coverage in international meetings, international new projects and new journalsare gradually increasing,the Anthropocenehas becomea research hotspotin environmental science, Earth science, archeology, biology and other relevant disciplines,including human activities driven changes in the Earth system, the beginningof Anthropocene, etc. Researchers focus on finding the "golden spikes" (GSSP), which are locations where there are strata successions with clear evidences of a worldwide event, including the appearance of distinctive fossils.The Anthropocene is put forward in the background of the human activity caused global environmental problems, stressing that human is also an important geological forces, its extent and consequences of the transformation of the Earth to geological forces enough matchthe traditional sense (earthquakes, orogenic movement, etc.). Due to China’s huge population size and limited living space, the Chinese population has been unprecedented for the modification of the land and geographical environment in the last few decades. Therefore,the Anthropocene research not only has important scientific significance, but also has more practical significance in China.There are some suggestions based on the status of Anthropocene research in China: Chinese Association for Quaternary Research may consider the addition of Anthropocene professional committee, hold a national conference on Anthropocene, participate in the related international organizations and associations and fund the relatedresearch.