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APN Newsletter September 1999
Message from the APN Director Having just replaced Hideyuki Mori as the new Director of the APN Secretariat, I would firstly like to thank him for his hard work over the last 18 months. I hope I can be equally successful in developing the APN in my role as the first full time Director. Our cover story concerns the opening of the new APN Centre in Kobe. The Secretariat's new home gives the APN a dedicated office for the first time, thanks to the financial assistance of Hyogo Prefectural Government, and we hope to make good use of the excellent facilities available to further promote global change research in the region. Please note the new address and contact details. Finally, this issue of the APN newsletter contains a focus on food issues (Click here to see the detail), with articles on the International Food Policy Research Institute, START's Climate Variability & Agriculture (CLIMAG) project, and the APN sponsored project on rice production in elevated CO2 conditions. We hope to continue this feature of occasional themes in future issues of the newsletter. Hiroaki Takagi Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999 APN CENTRE OPENS IN KOBE, NEW DIRECTOR APPOINTED The new APN Centre was officially opened on 5 August 1999. In his inauguration speech, the Hon. Kenji Manabe, Japanese Minister for the Environment said, "Expectations are great from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region for the advancement of environmental research. I look forward to everyone's cooperation for the development of APN activities.". Mr. Toshitami Kaihara, Governor of Hyogo Prefecture also expressed his commitment to the APN and Professor Higuchi, Co-Chair of the SPG made a presentation on the history and activities of the APN. The IHD Centre (pictured left) is also home to a number of other
international organisations and is well equipped with meeting facilities
which, coupled with the convenience of Kansai International Airport,
should help make it a strong centre for future APN operations. In
October the APN will host a global change symposium in Kobe, and
two scoping workshops at the Centre -to develop a CLIMAG demonstration
project for Asia and a program of projects related to Industrial
Transformation, Urbanisation and Environmental Change. Early next
year the APN sponsored projects on Land Use in Temperate East Asia
(APN
99002) and Aerosol Data Synthesis and Management (APN
99009) will also hold meetings in Kobe. The APN Strategic Plan, developed during the course of last year,
was published in August. The result of an extensive consultation
process, the plan sets the strategic direction of the APN for the
next 5 years and will be automatically issued to all those who made
contributions. At the same time the APN has updated its introductory
leaflet, to reflect the contents of the strategic plan and the relocation
to Kobe. Copies of both the plan and the leaflet are available from
the Secretariat. Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999 NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE SECRETARIAT APN CALL FOR PROPOSALS - COLLABORATORS SOUGHT The following researchers/organisations are intending to submit proposals to the APN and are seeking collaborators from the region. If you would be interested to cooperate with them in submitting a proposal please contact them directly or through the APN Secretariat. Manila Observatory, Philippines. Impact of Global Climate Change on Regional South and Southeast Asian Rainfall Distribution. Contact: <celine@admu.edu.ph> CSIRO Entomology, Australia. Workshop on the likely effects of climate change and climate variability on vector-borne diseases of humans, mostly meaning malaria, dengue fever and other arbo-viruses. Contact: <Robert.Sutherst@ento.csiro.au> Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), USA. Creation of data and information networks and data integration activities in relation to the human dimensions of global environmental change. Contact: <bob.chen@ciesin.org> Battelle Memorial Institute, USA. Capacity building efforts needed to make the Clean Development Mechanism workable and consistent with sustainable development goals, in the least developed countries and small island nations. Contact: <BennettA@BATTELLE.ORG> Institute of Rain & Moist Deciduous Forests Research, India. Rain forest related. Research Centre in Isotope Geochemistry & Geochronology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada. Deforestation, mercury contamination of aquatic ecosystems and human health. Contact: Marc Roulet <r34664@er.uqam.ca> The deadline for proposals is midnight, 30 September 1999. Please make sure that proposals arrive at the APN in good time. Proposals should be submitted to the Tokyo address as per the "Guide For Proponents".
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FELLOWSHIPS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY The Global Environmental Assessment (GEA) project is a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort to improve the linkage between science and policy in society's efforts to deal with problems of global environmental change. The project is based at Harvard drawing on faculty and students from the natural sciences, social sciences and professional schools. The Project's goal is to explore how assessment activities can better link scientific understanding with the progressive design, implementation, and evaluation of effective policy responses to global environmental change. To help build a next generation of professionals trained in and sensitive to the unique problems of linking science and policy on global environmental problems, the project recruits approximately eight pre- and post-doctoral fellows each year. Recruitment takes place through an international competition open to natural and social scientists as well as professional school students. Until now the Asia-Pacific has been under-represented in the Project and so applications from this region in particular are sought for the 2000 fellowships. Financial support is available. Applications are due by 15 January 2000. Those interested should consult the GEA website for further information (http://environment.harvard.edu/gea). Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999 FOUR GLOBAL CHANGE FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED THROUGH APN In January of this year the APN was asked by the Japanese Environment Agency to advertise four fellowships for greenhouse gas research at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan. A number of applications were received and we are pleased to announce that the following researchers were awarded fellowships: Damasa Magcale-Macandog, University of the Philippines
Los Banos Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (IFPRI) On the brink of the 21st century, the world faces a profound moral contradiction: farmers produce enough food to provide everyone with an adequate diet, but one of five people in the developing world remains undernourished. Three of every five undernourished people live in the Asia-Pacific region, and half of South Asia's children suffer from malnutrition. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) was established in 1975 to tackle these issues through policy research. Its mission is to identify and analyze alternative national and international policies for meeting food security and nutritional needs on a sustainable basis, with particular regard for low-income countries and poor people, and for the sound management of the natural resource base that supports agriculture; to make the results of its research available to all those in a position to apply or use them; and to help strengthen developing country institutions that conduct research and apply research results. IFPRI collaborates with local partners in 45 developing countries, including government agencies, universities, agricultural research institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Institute is part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a global agricultural research network, and it recruits researchers from around the world. IFPRI generates policy information in four broad areas: improving
agricultural markets; increasing food production and reducing poverty
without degrading natural resources; the impact of macroeconomic
and trade policy on food security; and promoting food security and
good nutrition for all, particularly women and children. Within
these areas, IFPRI carries out over 20 specific programs on such
topics as agricultural diversification, water resource allocation,
policy options for poverty alleviation, and global and regional
trade.
A number of research programs address the interaction between global environmental change and food security. Research on sustainable development of less-favored lands has focused, among other areas, on the resource-poor, rainfed zones of India, where many food-insecure people live. Researchers have found that potential increases in global mean temperatures and increased likelihood of extreme climatic events such as droughts and floods will add greatly to the constraints on sustainable development. A new program examines the economic value of climate forecasting and the possibilities for area-based rainfall insurance. As part of this work, IFPRI is exploring the relevance of East Asia's experience to Africa. Some analysts argue that Africa's rainfall variability militates against Western Hemisphere-style, export-oriented, agriculture-led growth. Instead, they emphasize East Asian-style export-oriented, labor intensive light industry. Supporters of agriculture-led approaches stress Africa's land and natural resource endowment and its large rural populace. Since 1993, IFPRI's 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment Initiative has sought to develop a shared vision and consensus for action. Non-technical publications are widely distributed to policymakers, researchers, and NGOs, featuring IFPRI research results and work by others. 2020 materials have discussed the impact of El Nino and climate change on food security. A recent 2020 newsletter highlighted how the El Nino related drought in the Philippines prompted increased attention to preparedness, such as enhanced irrigation systems and research on drought tolerant rice. For further information, please contact: Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999 CLIMATE PREDICTION AND AGRICULTURE (CLIMAG) -INCREASING FOOD SECURITY Roland Fuchs, Director, START Continued population growth and changing climate and hydrological regimes have made food security a critical issue for global change researchers. Co-sponsored by the International Human Dimensions of Global Change Programme (IHDP), the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), START is developing an international research program on Climate Prediction and Agriculture (CLIMAG). The goal of CLIMAG is to utilize the growing ability to predict for certain regions climate variations on the scale of months to a year to improve crop management and decision-making and increase production at local, national, and regional scales. The conceptual framework of the program, which will be reviewed at a September workshop hosted by the WMO and co-sponsored by IHDP, IGBP, WCRP, and START, involves efforts along three parallel and inter-related tracks. The first addresses scaling of global climate models to regional predictions of changes in climate using numerical, statistical, and historical data. The second track is focused on refining crop modeling capabilities to use regional predictions of changes in climate to evaluate strategies for improving crop yields. Utilization of climate predictions in the selection and timing of farm-management practices may help to narrow the gap between predicted and actual crop yields. Finally, dissemination and use of such information and strategies in farming activities at the local and regional levels will be conducted. The CLIMAG initiative therefore is focused on developing an integrated
climate prediction system for use by farm-scale decision-makers.
This predictive capability will assist in farm management, such
as selection of plant variety, irrigation schedules, pest-management
techniques, etc. The strong nature of the ENSO signal over a number
of Southeast Asian countries, particularly Indonesia, provides an
excellent opportunity for a proof-of-concept demonstration project.
A regional scoping and planning workshop sponsored by APN is planned
for October 20-22, 1999 in Kobe, Japan.(See
calendar). At this workshop, a demonstration project on rice,
the major Asian subsistence crop, will be developed. This demonstration
project will involve a collaborative group of regional experts including
climate modelers, crop modelers, agronomists, agro-economists, and
farm-level partners. The demonstration project will be conducted
in several phases;
Each phase subsequent to the collection of historical data and statistical analyses will involve significant input and feedback from farmers and local agriculture officials to ensure that the proposed field management practices in the model are appropriate and acceptable. It is expected that early development of pilot projects on other crops in Asia, such as winter wheat in China or sugar in Fiji, will also be proposed as follow-up activities. The APN is supporting the CLIMAG initiative by funding a two-day workshop in October to develop a demonstration project for Asia. Information on the CLIMAG project, in Asia and internationally, is available via the START website: www.start.org Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999 RICE RESEARCH IN SOUTH ASIA UNDER ELEVATED CO2 A. P. Mitra, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India There is agreement among the scientific community that the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased from around 280 ppm in the pre-industrial times to 358 ppm in 1994, primarily as a result of human activities [Houghton, 1995]. Enhanced levels of CO2 in the atmosphere affect the carbon balance in the rhizosphere and photosynthetic carbon assimilation in plants, thereby affecting agricultural productivity. Although studies have indicated that increased concentration of carbon dioxide has beneficial effects [Kimball, 1983, Cure and Ackock, 1986], there is a variability in the response of plants to increasing concentration [Pearcy and Bjorkman, 1985]. South Asian countries have an agriculture based economy and their food security may be significantly affected by rises in CO2. To adapt and benefit from these enhanced levels, fundamental knowledge of the responses of crop systems to such changes is required. Predicting climate change and evaluating the effects of changing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere on agrosystems, requires the use of models. However, these models must be developed and evaluated with data obtained under realistic field conditions. Rice is widely grown throughout South Asia and being a C3 crop, responds significantly to enhanced concentrations of CO2. In order to develop a model, with the additional objective of tailoring rice genotypes and their management technologies, scientists of the SASCOM region have come together to study:
Such studies on the effect of CO2 enrichment in crop plants using OTCs are already in progress at the Indian Agricultural Institute, New Delhi, India. These studies are aimed at characterizing the possible effects of elevated CO2 on photosynthesis, productivity and water relations of plants under adverse moisture stress conditions. The results from such studies at IARI have shown that CO2 response is highly significant in mitigating certain adverse stress effects on plant processes [Uprety et. al., 1995; Uprety et. al., 1996a and b]. Open top chambers were developed to characterise the response
of crop plants to CO2 enrichment under near natural conditions.
These chambers measure dynamic changes in temperature, light and
rainfall experienced by unenclosed areas with inexpensive and complex
environmental controls. Open top chambers comprise of (a) a supply
of pure and high concentration of CO2, (b) system of valves, regulators
and flow metres, (c) chambers which are CO2 controlled, (d) appropriate
gas analyser with feed back control and (e) computed data acquisition
and programming(See Figure 1 Schematic representation of Open top
Chamber arrangements). The microenvironment of typical open top
chamber has 5-7% less solar radiation, higher humidity and lower
wind speed compared to open field and sometimes produces a measurable
effect on plant growth. However, there is no systematic effect of
the chamber on all aspects of growth. This indicates that major
environmental effects are compensatory ; e.g. production reduction
of light is compensated by improved water balance and increased
temperature. A disadvantage of open top chambers is that CO2 concentration
is more variable than with closed chambers but they are cost effective
for meeting the requirements of field research on the CO2 enrichment
study. Open top chambers can be modified to periodically measure
net carbon exchange. These are inherently simpler than other systems.
A judicious combination of field experiments at different places on rice cultivars using these CO2 enrichment technologies will enable a more realistic characterisation of their responses to elevated CO2, and a database thus obtained would be of immense help in policy consideration for regional food security issues for the future. Characterization of the responses of plants to elevated CO2 will help in designing simulation models for rice productivity predictions. For further details please contact the APN Secretariat. The above project is one of 13 funded so far by the APN in 1999/2000. Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999
EL NINO AND SOUTHEAST ASIA - IMPACT, RESPONSE AND POLICY LESSONS Nguyen Huu Ninh, Center for Environment Research, Education and Development, Vietnam and Mick Kelly, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
At other times, the news is not so good. La Nina is also associated with more frequent typhoons on the shores of Vietnam (see figure) ﾑ five major storms hit the country during the closing months of 1998. And the 1997/98 El Nino event brought serious disruption to the whole region. Lives were lost and economies set back as drought was aggravated by smog with the pollution created by local forest fires trapped by stable, atmospheric conditions. Unfortunately, scientific understanding of the impact of these events on the biophysical and socio-economic health of the region is limited and only rudimentary efforts have been made to develop a forecast potential. Understanding of appropriate response strategies is also deficient, yet the regular cycle between El Nino and La Nina conditions is a key component of the regional climate, as important a feature to plan for as the average climate. Can some degree of buffering against adverse impacts be created by, for example, taking better advantage of good harvests during the favourable phase of the cycle? Would it make sense to focus storm protection activities on specific areas during different stages of the cycle? But is understanding sufficient, and can forecasts ever be accurate enough, to support this kind of planning for variability? Typhoon Linda, the storm causing the most severe impact of recent times, hit Vietnam during the El Nino year of 1997, a period when numbers might be expected to be on the low side. As the most recent La Nina event fades, it is time to consider what has been learnt from the experience of the past few years and this is the theme of a new APN-funded project, based around a workshop to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in late February 2000. The aim of the project is to examine the impact of the El Nino phenomenon on Southeast Asia from an interdisciplinary perspective, taking particular account of the human dimension, lessons for policy, and implications regarding the longer-term impact of global environmental change. The project is an activity of the newly-formed Indochina Global Change Network and, though covering the whole region, the workshop will focus on IGCN nations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Policy relevance is a major goal of the project. To this end, a survey is being conducted to identify what policymakers in the region consider to be the most serious impacts of the El Nino phenomenon with respect to their particular area of concern, what do they feel proved to be effective (and ineffective) response strategies, and what do they consider to be the major research, training and policy development priorities. The results of this survey will guide the agenda of the Hanoi workshop and policymakers' requirements will be addressed in the resulting conference report. The workshop will bring together invited representatives of the
science and policy community of the focal nations, Cambodia, Laos
and Vietnam, and other Southeast Asia nations with experts from
outside the region. Keynote lectures and contributed papers will
summarize current understanding of the El Nino phenomenon,
prospects for seasonal forecasting, impacts on the region, and response
strategies, paying particular attention to the most recent El Nino
and La Nina events. Discussion will focus on the issues raised
by the policymaker survey. The above project is one of 13 funded so far by the APN in 1999/2000. For further information please see the contact details. Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999
Louis Lebel, Institute of Research & Development, Walailak University, Thailand The aim of this project is to conduct an assessment of the policy implications of global change for the Southeast Asia region. The scope of this initial assessment is meant to be comprehensive and consider the full range of interacting global change issues, from changes in biogeochemical cycles, land-use and -cover changes, degradation of large-scale resources, through to loss of biodiversity and climate change. Unlike most other regional assessments, the starting point of analysis will be the development process. Thus, there will be chapters dedicated to the analysis of the processes of urbanisation, industrialisation, the expansion and intensification of agriculture, the globalization of trade and investment, institutional and political transformation, exploitation and degradation of coastal and marine resources and so on. Each chapter will consider both how global environmental changes will influence that development process as well as how that process will contribute to further global environmental change. The main product will be a two-volume book. The first volume will be a concise summary written for a non-technical, policy-oriented audience. It will be an important tool in improving awareness of transboundary environmental issues in the region. The second volume will contain the more in-depth analyses, but will also be primarily concerned with policy implications rather than simply summarising research findings. The book will be launched as part of a science-policy activity including an international workshop structure and public policy debates. It is expected that this approach will facilitate the bringing more closely together of knowledge and ideas from the sustainable development and global change research agendas. The emphasis on development process will be an intellectual challenge, but in the long run should help make the results more meaningful for development policy in the region. From the list of main chapter themes above it is clear that human welfare and security issues will be prominent in the assessment. Food security issues, for example, will be considered from a number of perspectives. First, by exploring the environmental consequences of meeting demands through expansion and intensification of agricultural systems. Second, by examining the effects of trade and investment in the production of luxury commodities, such as shrimp, on land-use. It is acknowledged from the outset that there will always be
large uncertainties about the responses of human systems and their
interaction with social and global environmental changes. For this
reason the authors will be encouraged to emphasis the behaviour
of system linkages rather than be overly concerned with predicting
the exact magnitude of impacts. In cases where there is complex
set of costs, benefits, and trade-offs for different policy programmes,
authors may present their analyses as policy debates. The assessment report is being prepared by teams of authors, most of which are either natives of, or professionally based in, the region. There are typically 3-5 core contributing authors for each chapter. Some authors are contributing to more than one chapter and there is an overall editor to facilitate integration between chapters and manage the overall project. Potential authors for the book first met in a START funded workshop in March 1999 (see Southeast Asia report). In mid-August the lead authors of each chapter will meet again for a working group meeting with a special focus on cross-cutting issues, information sharing, and finalising work plans to complete the first full draft. A larger meeting will be held in early December 1999 to which external advisors will be invited to criticize the drafts. These will be partly drawn from editorial advisory board, including people with experience in the policy community. A full draft of the book should be available by the end of February 2000 and the final book printed around July 2000. The authors welcome scientific and policy input from other APN-sponsored projects. If you have analyses or published material that you think we should be referring to or considering then please don't hesitate to contact us. For further information on the assessment project, please see the details on project page. Some background information on the project is available for the public at: <http://www.wu.ac.th/research/gcbook/> The above project is one of 13 funded so far by the APN in 1999/2000. Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999 APN SUPPORTS NEW PROJECT - 2ND WORKSHOP ON MONITORING TRENDS IN CLIMATE EXTREMES
Making use of its contingency fund, the APN has sponsored a 13th project for 1999/2000. In this article, the authors outline their plans to follow up on the success of last year's initial workshop, also sponsored by the APN. The first workshop The need for such action was highlighted in 1995 by the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which noted the inadequacy of current climate data for the detection of consistent changes in climate variability and weather extremes over this century. The APN workshop built on international activity initiated by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) through a joint workshop in Asheville, USA in June 1997. The APN workshop was seen to be very effective, and a strong recommendation of all the participants was that a second workshop should be held in late 1999. The purpose of the second workshop would be to prepare a regional analysis of trends in climate extremes. The analysis would be carried out jointly and would be provided in time for inclusion in the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the IPCC. The second workshop Each participant will be asked to bring daily rainfall data from four or five sites across their country. The data sets need to be of high quality and to be as long as possible. The first three days of the workshop will be spent analysing the data. Each data set will be quality controlled and any inhomogeneities will be adjusted in accordance with international best-practice. With all the data sets having been consistently quality controlled, they will then be analysed for changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme events. Scientific staff from the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO Atmospheric Research will be at the workshop to assist with the analysis. The last two days will be spent by all participants mapping the indices calculated from each data set and preparing the workshop report. The report will provide information on variations across the region in total rainfall and in the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall, including a drought index. While the focus of the workshop will be on rainfall, it will be possible to conduct a similar analysis of daily temperature data if they are available. The workshop report will be prepared at the meeting, and it will be available for assessment by the IPCC in preparation of the TAR. The development of a consistent regional analysis of climate extremes will be a unique achievement, involving scientists from all the participating countries and providing a model for future activity on regional data analysis. For further details please contact the APN Secretariat. The above project is one of 13 funded so far by the APN in 1999/2000. Reference Back to the contents of APN Newsletter September 1999
BULA AND GREETINGS FROM THE START-OCEANIA SECRETARIAT We are very happy to announce that the START-Oceania Secretariat located at the University of the South Pacific (USP), Suva Fiji became fully operational in June 1999. Following the official launch of Start-Oceania last October, we have undertaken a number of urgent matters including the hiring of staff, purchasing of equipment, establishing an e-mail address and ongoing awareness and promotion of the Secretariat. The current staff includes the Director, Dr. Kanayathu Koshy, a full-time Associate Professor/Reader with the Chemistry Department, School of Pure and Applied Sciences (USP) and Liz Wilson, Programme Assistant. This is a very exciting and challenging period for staff and all involved with the Secretariat because we are building the foundations on which the future success of START-Oceania will depend. The overall aim of START-Oceania is to build indigenous capacity to conduct globally significant research of regional relevance by assisting regional and national communities of researchers and by fostering science policy interactions. One of the objectives of START-Oceania is to create a sense of ownership of the regional aspects of global change problems through awareness building among stakeholders. Two areas, which are very relevant to people in the Pacific, are the impacts of climate variability and change and coastal resource management. A second objective is to be able to provide resource material for people who may not have access to the more academic sources. This information and resource material will be provided in a user-friendly manner, concentrating on many of the essential global change areas of interest to Pacific people. Recent Activities and Meetings
We at START-Oceania feel very privileged and happy to be associated with this new Secretariat. The needs of the Pacific are different to those of the Northern Hemisphere and consequently, need to be addressed as such. Therefore with the establishment of START-Oceania and the support of START and APN, we are confident that we can accept this challenge and make a substantial difference. For further information we can be contacted on e-mail: startoceania@usp.ac.fj SOUTH ASIA INDOEX is an internationally coordinated scientific observational program to study the effect of aerosols and radiative forcing of the earth atmosphere. This study is vital in mankind's understanding of the different factors affecting global change phenomenon, the other important factor being the effect of green house gases. A two day National Workshop on the scientific results from the Intense Field Phase -99 (IFP-99) of the Indian component of the International field campaign known as INDOEX (INDIAN OCEAN EXPERIMENT) was inaugurated on July 12, 1999. INDOEX India had two major field campaigns known as the First Field Phase -98 (FFP-98) and the Intense Field Phase -99 (IFP-99). The field campaigns involved coordinated measurements relating to atmospheric chemistry, radiation, meteorological parameters and involved analysis of air mass trajectories, due to post North East Monsoon flow. The observational systems included Ground based, Shipborne, Airborne (both Balloon based on Aircraft based) and space based systems using Geosynchronous and low earth orbiting satellites. Several important results were obtained on the composition, size and height distribution of the aerosols. A national data centre has been set up at National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi to provide access to the data collected as part of the INDOEX Program to the participating Indian scientists from different national laboratories and academic institutions. Forthcoming regional workshops:
Connie Chiang, the new SARCS Program Manager, was appointed the
first APN Liaison Officer for the Southeast Asia region in June. The authors of the APN/START funded assessment project "Policy implications of global change for development in Southeast Asia" (APN 99010) met in Kuala Lumpur during 12-13 March 1999 to come to an agreement on the scope, content, and format of the assessment report (see article). Three more author meetings are scheduled between August and February 1999. A number of other global change activities in this region will be carried out in 1999-2000, including the APN funded projects on the impact of El Nino and La Nina on SE Asia (APN 99003) and a climate change simulations training workshop (APN 99011). Other topics for the new activities include LUCC Phase 2 (Land use and cover change), improving biophysical data of land cover and GHG emission, integrated river basin modeling, biogeochemical responses to land use change, compiling geospatial data into metadata, and developing web-based global change data information systems. Compiled from report by SARCS Liaison Officer Ms. Connie Chiang TEMPERATE EAST ASIA The meeting of the Regional Climate Modeling Scientific Steering Committee (RCM-SSC) under TEACOM was held in International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy on June 9, 1999. It was jointly sponsored by APN and ICTP, involving 13 participants, including 7 RCM-SSC members. The discussions focused on a project proposal on the inter-comparison of RCM for Asia (RMIP for Asia). A number of research groups showed their interests in the comparison studies and will take part in the initial actions for this valuable task. The first TEACOM/START Synthesis Meeting was held in Beijing
from 20-21 July 1999. The meeting was organized to prepare for the
synthesis of global change research results in Temperate East Asia
and discuss the writing of the TEACOM chapter in the START synthesis
book. During the meeting a draft outline for the TEACOM synthesis
work was formulated and writing responsibilities were allocated
to a team of authors. A brief report by Vladimir Kasyanov introduced global change and related studies in the Far East of Russia during 1998-1999. The report included: 1) The publication of the 7th TEACOM meeting and International Workshop on Global Change Studies in Far East Asia; 2) The workshops to be held in Russian Far East this year such as the third regional workshop on global change and the second international workshop on environmental problems of Tuman River Area; 3) The papers presented at international conferences, the publications of some monographs and Ph.D. Theses concerning global change problems, and other academic activities by the scientific community of Russian Far East. For detailed information, please contact Kasyanov at: <inmarbio@mail.primorye.ru>, <dlv@mail.primorye.ru> Compiled from report by TEACOM Liaison Officer Mr. Zhibin Wan SARCS (Southeast Asia) SASCOM (South Asia) START Oceania TEACOM (Temperate East Asia) PROJECTS FUNDED BY APN The APN Third Inter-Governmental Meeting in September 1998 decided to fund 12 projects based on an APN budget consisting of about US$500,000 from the Environment Agency of Japan and US$250,000 from the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) provided via START. Projects may also be funded from other sources not noted here, including in-kind support from countries.
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