Scientific Capacity Building / Enhancement for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries ( CAPaBLE )

CBA2006-06NSY Greenhouse gas (GHG) and aerosol emissions under different vegetation land use in the Mekong River Basin Sub-Region.

Introduction

South East Asia covers an area of 410 million hectares with forest and agricultural land representing respectively about 77% and 20% of the total area. The agricultural land use in South East Asia has expanded only slightly from 16.8% of total land area in 1975 to 19.6% in 1992, but for the period of 1990-1995, the Asia Pacific forests observed a reduction by 17 million hectares, with the fastest rate in the Mekong region (1.6% per year) and in South East Asia (1.3% per year). Changes in land use reflect actually the development of intensive agriculture, which constitutes the major economic activity in South-East Asia . Deforestation via burning and intensive agricultural activities results in the increase of GHG and aerosol emissions in the region, which are of main concern for their impacts on the regional air quality and global climate change. To ensure the sustainable development of the region, GHG and aerosols emission inventories should be established to provide scientific information relevant for the formulation of appropriate control and mitigation strategies. However, these are hampered in many areas of the Asia-Pacific region by the lack of measurement data and scientific understanding. Also, awareness raising of the population involved in vegetation land use change activities is essential for effectively contributing to the mitigation of GHG and aerosol emissions and of impacts of land use change, which would ultimately lead to the sustainable development of the region.

In order to contribute to achieving this ultimate goal, this project proposes to improve scientific understanding, inventory database and methodology, and disseminate the knowledge and know-how accumulated so far to other Asia-Pacific countries.

Methodology of this Study :

This project is designed for one year duration in order to start up to build knowledge and know-how of scientists and policy makers of the Mekong River Basin Sub-Region in measurement and evaluation of GHG and aerosol emissions from biogenic and biomass burning activities associated to different vegetation land use. This is expected to enable them to assess the implications of GHG and aerosol emission on regional air quality and contributions to global warming.

It will be implemented jointly by academic institutions located in 5 Asia-Pacific countries: The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment
( Thailand ), National Institute for Environmental Studies and Global Environmental Forum
( Japan ), Center for Environmental Science
( Australia ), Department of Civil Engineering, Lamar University (USA) and Ministry of Environment ( Cambodia ). The beneficiaries of the project results are firstly the countries of the Mekong River Basin Sub-Region, including Thailand , Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar and Vietnam , and secondly other countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Thailand will serve as study site for the setting of field experiments and for testing and adapting measurement procedures developed from previous studies. Partners from Japan , Australia and USA will back-up in technology for the measurements and data assimilation of GHG and aerosols emitted from biogenic and biomass burning activities. Cambodia will act as implementation site to assure that the measurement procedures are replicable in all the countries of the Mekong River Basin Sub-Region. Gained experience and results will be shared to Laos , Myamar and Vietnam through the organized training workshop.

The atmospheric compounds of interest are CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O for GHG emitted from biogenic activities, and CO, CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O and aerosols from biomass burning. For this latter, particulate black carbon will constitute a special focus.