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APN Newsletters Vol. 6, No. 4, October 2000
Message from the new APN Director As a successor of Mr. Hiroaki Takagi, I was assigned to be the new Director of the APN Secretariat on July 1, 2000. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Mr. Takagi for his excellent work inaugurating the new Secretariat office in Kobe, with strong support from Hyogo Prefectural Government. Just after coming to Kobe, my first job as Director of APN Secretariat
was opening the Second APN Symposium on "Urbanization and Global
Environment" on Awaji Island. I also gave the opening address at
the APN Workshop on "Urbanization, Industrial Transformation and
Environmental Change", which was held at the APN Centre in Kobe
after the symposium. A Summary of these events is shown below.
Indeed, with the symposium and workshop in mind, the October APN
Newsletter has an urbanization theme. Furthermore, three workshop
participants Prof. Newman (transportation group), Prof. Zhihong
Wei (GHG group) and last but not least Dr. Ashraf Rahman (Water
group) have kindly provided workshop related articles for this issue. - Ryutaro Yatsu Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE SECRETARIAT Key Scientific Priorities In the APN Strategic Plan, one of the key activities to be conducted
is the systematic identification of Key Scientific Priorities of
the region. The "Call for Proposals 2000" gave particular emphasis
to "Climate Change & Variability" and "The Human Dimensions
of Global Change". Such a system is however flexible and can
adopt changing priorities. Therefore, the APN Secretariat is inviting
you to submit suggestions concerning possible future Key Scientific
Priorities of the region. Please send comments and suggestions to
info@apn.gr.jp 1999/2000 APN Supported Project Information Several homepages have been created with direct links to the following 1999/2000 APN Supported Projects: APN 99003 The Impact of El Nino and La Nina on Southeast
Asia: The Human Dimension, Policy Lessons and Implications for Global
Change. A workshop and related information project. Dr. Nguyen
Huu Ninh APN99004 Land-Use Change and Terrestrial Carbon Stocks: Capacity Building, Impacts Assessment, and Policy Support in South and Southeast Asia. Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso www.icsea.or.id/apn/apnicsea.htm APN 990010 Preparation of a global change assessment report for Southeast Asia: "Policy Implications of global change for the ASEAN region". Dr. Louis Lebel www.icsea.or.id/ APN 990012 Monitoring and Prediction of ENSO event and SSTA over the warm pool in the western Pacific Ocean. Prof. Yihui Ding www.ncc.gov.cn Click here to see the projects detailed information APN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM The second International APN Symposium, supported by Hyogo Prefectural
Government, was held at the Awaji Yumebutai Conference Centre, on
11 July, 2000. Approximately 300 people attended including local
citizens, business representatives and scientists, as well as participants
from the global change community. Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000
Richard C. Rockwell, Institute for Social Inquiry, The University of Connecticut The workshop was funded using the Hyogo Prefecture APN Symposium /Workshops fund. Participants came from the following countries Introduction/Background Outline of activities conducted
The following sections summarize discussion and recommendations on each of the candidate pilot projects. Urban Environmental Issues ? Water for Asia-Pacific Cities: The Budgets of GHGs, Urban Air Pollutants and their Future
Emission Scenarios In Selected Mega-cities in Asia Outcomes/Products Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000
Mega-Cities
and Transit: the critical choice for global change. Peter Newman, Professor of City Policy, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia. Asia Pacific currently accounts for 9 of the world's 13 mega-cities, and 11 more Asian cities will join the mega-city list by 2020, and between 10 and 20 more by 2050. Some of these mega-cities will be larger than any city in recorded history, and pose a complex array of problems, including environmental impacts locally and globally. The contribution to greenhouse alone from these cities will be a major part of the global problem. As well the land loss from surrounding rural areas will be substantially contributing to the loss of biodiversity and rural production. The shape of cities is fundamentally related to its transport priorities ? if cities are built around highways then they tend to sprawl and have heavy car use. If impacts from mega-cities in Asia Pacific are to be minimised then there is a critical need to reassess how transport infrastructure is funded. Most of the policy responses to the growth of car use in mega-cities are to try and suggest heavy regulation and taxation measures on the ownership and use of vehicles. Is there any way that governments can approach this problem in a way that is more positive? Can there be more choice for people in these mega-cities whilst reducing their global impacts? Evidence from our Global Cities study suggests it is possible. This is because there appears to be little association between car use in the 37 cities we studied and their levels of wealth(Fig 1) . Our study found that in the wealthy Asian cities of Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong there is less car use per capita than in the developing Asian cities of Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Surabaya and Seoul, but the first three cities were on average ten times wealthier. The difference was in the levels of public transport and in the quality of service they provided. The levels of non-motorised transport depend heavily, also, on the quality of the transit system as the two go together. The quality of transit is most clearly related to its relative speed in relation to traffic speeds (Fig 2).
The economics of these priorities can be questioned as our studies show that the cities which have good mass transit systems have the least transport costs (Fig 3). And this does not consider the global change impacts which we must begin to include. Mass transit is again being used in Europe and America to stem traffic impacts and build urban economies around preferred non-car options. Yet the mega-cities of Asia are caught up in a spiral of investment in new road capacity. The good news is that there is still time to reverse the trends and create less impacting cities which also have better transport choices for their citizens. But not unless there is a new mood about the value and importance of mass transit in the development patterns of the mega-cities of Asia. Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000 by Wei Zhihong, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Beijing is the capital and also a political, cultural, science & technology, education center of China. A famous metropolis in the world. Beijing's population increased from 2 million fifty years ago to 14 million recently. Per capita GDP is nearing $US 2,000. With rapid social and economic development in Beijing, the air quality has got worse in recent years. For example, during a 50 week period in 1998, there were 20 weeks when the air pollution index (API) was at or above IV Grade (State standard). Nowadays, Beijing is making great efforts in the overall construction of a modern cosmopolitan metropolis. In this process, international exchanges in economic, science & technology, cultural, education areas will continue to expand, and better conditions should be established for attracting foreign investments, accepting local offices of famous and important international agencies, undertaking large-scale global activities (Beijing is now bidding for the Olympic Games in 2008) and so on. Undoubtedly, the deterioration of air quality will make negative influences on the expanded international exchanges and slow down modernization. Specific geographical and meteorological conditions, various anthropogenic social and economic activities are the two major causes for air pollution in Beijing. Beijing is located in the north of Huabei Plain and surrounded by mountains in three directions, air pollutants are therefore not easily pervaded. There exists a great imbalance of social and economic activities. The urban core area just accounts for 6% of total area of Beijing, but 50% of population, 60% of industrial production value, 80% of buildings, 80% of energy consumption are concentrated in this core area. Pollution of coal, vehicle and dust are the three key sources for bad air quality in Beijing. Coal is the main primary energy source, and like the nation's energy mix, annual coal consumption is about 28 million tons, making 72.8% of total primary energy consumption. It is roughly estimated that 90% of SO2 and 40% of TSP is contributed by coal combustion. The number of vehicles has increased rapidly in the past few years. The current number of vehicles is around 1.4 million. And with lower quality vehicles, trail gas emissions become more serious. Investigations show that emissions of NOx and CO occupy 43% and 83% of total emissions of Beijing. This has resulted in a shift of air pollution characteristic of Beijing from single coal pollution to a mixture of pollution from coal and vehicles. Finally, scarce precipitation (annual average 640 mm), less vegetation and inadequate management are considered to be the major causes of high TSP concentration of around 370μg/m3 and over State standard by 90%. Since the end of 1998, Beijing municipal government outlined strong actions to improve the air quality of Beijing. 18 urgent measures were implemented in December 1998 to February 1999, 28 urgent measures in March to September of 1999, 22 urgent measures in October 1999 to March 2000. Targets of air quality improvement were set up as: days of API at III or better than III Grade should make up 70% in 1999, 80% in 2000 and 90% in 2003. According to these targets, emission of SO2 will be greatly reduced by 40%, NOx by 33%, TSP by 34% during the five-year period 1998-2003. For reducing coal combustion pollution, the two main options are to substitute coal by clean energy, in particular using natural gas in a medium term, and to use low contents of sulfur and ash of coal. In mitigating pollution from industrial sectors, the following actions will be adopted, such as reforming economic and product structure in terms of cutting down energy-intensive industries and developing high value-added industries; adjusting industrial location by moving enterprises outside to the suburbs; promoting clean production; and setting a deadline for enterprises to reach state standards for various types of emissions. In addressing serious pollutants emitted by vehicles, measures could be implemented like controlling pollution of new vehicles; strengthening management on existing vehicles; promoting clean fuel use of LPG, NG etc.; and developing public transportation. Finally, an example of two effective options to reduce particle pollution include the strong management of dust and the planting of trees and other forms of vegetation. Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000
Ausaf Rahman The development of essential services including water and sanitation in many rapidly growing cities of the economically developing countries of Asia can not keep pace with their population growth and accompanying urban and industrial development. Karachi is the largest and the most industrialized city in Pakistan. Its population of over 14 million has been growing at an average rate of 6 percent. Located some 160 kilometers away from the Indus River, it is the last major city harnessing water from this river. Besides the Indus, which supplies nearly three-quarters of Karachi's bulk water, nearby rivers like Hab and Malir also supply water to Karachi through dams or recharging into ground. During the last decade the latter sources have been increasingly dwindling; seemingly due to changing climate/environment. Since Karachi is at the tail end of the Indus' surface water supplies, it receives water which has repeatedly been used for municipal, agricultural and industrial purposes, without receiving any treatment before being discharged into the river. Depending on various sectarian allocation estimates, the residents of Karachi are allocated anywhere from 20 to 60 liters of water daily. Few if any households receive piped water around the clock. Most are supplied water for only a few hours a day and even that supply is very erratic, having very low flow rates (pressure). Almost all houses (and other buildings) have underground and rooftop water storage tanks. Suction pumps are generally installed to extract water from the municipal pipelines to the underground water tanks, before pumping it to the rooftop tanks. The pipelines throughout the city, especially in older parts of the city are badly corroded. The water losses are assumed to be nearly 40 percent. In many areas including expensive residential districts, the piped municipal water does not reach the houses and the residents have to buy water from private vendors selling water in trucks mounted "tankers" (see photo 1). The source of this water can vary from the treated municipal water to partially filtered sewage. All samples of such water tested by the author had exorbitantly high coliform count and most also had heavy metals like Lead, Chromium, Arsenic, etc. and organic synthetic chemicals in excess of WHO standards for drinking water. Almost all the underground tanks have municipal water mixed with water bought from the vendors. The Katcchi Abadis (squatter colonies) have either public standpipes or the people have to buy water from vendors. The total sewage treatment capacity is less than 15 percent of the water supplied to the consumers in Karachi. Even though most middle class or better homes in Karachi may be connected to sewerage lines, sooner or later 85 percent of the sewage ends up in the surrounding land and eventually to the sea. Most storm drains and natural watercourses in Karachi carry raw sewage (see photo 2). The overloaded sewerage system is also subjected to leakage, often overflowing and choking. The solid waste disposal is also not well regulated and heaps of garbage is a common site throughout the city. Industrial sewage and waste disposal is also not adequately regulated in Karachi. In addition, small-scale industries/factories for electroplating, tanning, dying, garment manufacturing, etc. are common within residential and commercial areas. Groundwater samples collected in the vicinity of such factories contain heavy metals like Chromium, Nickel, and Arsenic in excessive amounts. Before rapid development (during the 1950's and 60's) the water table in most places in Karachi was over 30 meters depth and encountered saline water. Now in most places the water table is encountered very near (or some places at) the ground surface and the water is "fresh". The source of this recharging water is primarily sewage and the city's water supply. All shallow wells in Karachi, which provide source of fresh water for most water vendors and many users, yield this partially filtered and diluted sewage. The highly contaminated shallow groundwater has also become a source of contamination for the city's water supply. Water and sewerage pipelines are laid in close proximity and in some places sewerage lines occur above the water lines. When the water is being extracted from water pipe lines through suction pumps, hydraulic gradients develop from surrounding highly contaminated water towards the water lines. Thus while the water leaving the treatment plants may be uncontaminated, water coming out of consumers taps is mostly contaminated. The health effects of consuming highly contaminated water to the residents of Karachi are obvious. Most water borne disease like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, diarrhea, dysentery, etc. are very common. Numerous incidence of health problems have been cited among the users of contaminated groundwater in many Asian cities. The most prevalent solution that is evolving in Karachi (and many other Asian cities) is privatization of not only water but also various treatment facilities. Among these, buying water from water vendors (from larger tankers to bottled water), extracting groundwater within the owner's premises, employing various treatment systems (boiling to reverse osmosis units), etc. are most prevalent. The solutions that are evolving seem to provide only temporary and localized relief. For a citywide permanent solution, several steps may be needed. These may include increasing the allocation of water for urban use, especially for Karachi, upgrading the water supply and sanitation system in the cities, and more efficient agricultural water use. In the wake of increasing population especially for urban areas and greater water demand by all sectors, cities all over the world, especially in economically developing countries, may need to consider recycling as an essential part of their water supply system. In Karachi, like many similar Asian cities, water is being recycled without any planned effort, resulting in severe contamination and resulting health consequences. Planned schemes will only improve the situation. All large-scale solutions will require political will and financial resources. Though this paper highlights the case of Karachi, similar conditions are prevalent in other Asian cities as well. Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000 GUEST ARTICLE: ASIA-PACIFIC CITIES: FROM ECOLOGICAL HAZARDS TO ECOLOGICAL DEVICES Richard C .Rockwell Professor Hidefumi Imura Policy makers are now making decisions that will greatly shape the future of countries in Asia and the Pacific. These policies involve the rapid urbanization of many countries in the region, at the highest rate known to history. Most of these countries have also moved far on the path towards industrialization and its associated globalization of trade, experienced rapidly growing economies and improving quality of life for their peoples, and grown in overall population size. These four socioeconomic changes, playing out at different rates among the region's countries, are the most important facts about these societies with which policy makers must deal. The region's significant socioeconomic changes have caused a number of environmental problems and changes at the local, regional, and global scales. This has occurred in all world regions but is accentuated in Asia and the Pacific simply by the rapid pace of change. The building of cities and the changes in land use that are required to support them are continuing to cause changes in both terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity. Because a large proportion of cities in the region are located in the coastal zone or in river basins, the growth of cities has also caused changes in coastal zones, marine and inland waters, and the productivity of those waters. Most of the cities of the region are dependent on fossil fuels to power their industries, energy generation, and transportation. This dependence on carbon is already contributing a noticeable fraction of the worldwide buildup of greenhouse gases that may lead to global climate change. With growing prosperity in the region and current consumption patterns, the emissions attributable to the region could increase. This same dependence upon fossil fuels causes emissions of airborne particulate matter and many gases, leading to changes in atmospheric composition on exceedingly large scales such as have been measured in the Indian Ocean Experiment. These atmospheric changes are impacting human and ecosystem health. Further, environmental changes occurring outside the region may already be having impacts within the region. First among these is the possibility that climate change is already occurring because of historically huge emissions of CO2 from outside the region. These environmental changes are the second set of substantial changes with which policy makers must deal, and they collide with the socioeconomic changes in powerful ways. This collision is creating a policy dilemma unlike that ever before faced by humankind. The dilemma: ensuring that economic growth, with its accompanying urbanization and industrialization, will occur simultaneously with reductions in the environmental impacts of humankind's growing prosperity. If this dilemma is not solved globally, the future of the region, its people, and indeed the entire world will be strongly conditioned by an unprecedented onslaught of environmental changes. The preceding paragraphs implicitly have shown the necessity of creating interdisciplinary collaborations across what have been very wide gulfs- between the natural sciences and engineering on the one hand and the social and policy sciences on the other. Those collaborations are necessary because the socioeconomic and environmental changes are inextricably linked. Understanding these changes and formulating appropriate policies will require deep integration of the findings of natural science with the findings of social and economic research. It cannot be a matter of the disciplines working side by side; they must work together. Without this integration, the research questions will continue to be just slightly off the mark for policy relevance, and the results will continue to be incomplete and uneven as input to policy decision making. Further, this research problem is a preeminent example of the needs for collaboration at the regional level. This dilemma cannot be studied successfully from afar; it requires expertise on the ground, particularly in forging links between policy and science. It strains credulity to believe that a single solution for environmental ills will fit all the countries of the region, differing as they do in climate, terrain, ecosystems, economic development, politics, and culture. However, city-by-city case studies alone have not met the needs for policy-relevant research. Only comparative research is likely to yield a synthesizing, comprehensive, scientifically credible set of findings and policy options. Why a focus on cities? The first author recommended that APN make significant investments in this nexus of urbanization and the environment for two reasons: quantity and opportunity. On the side of quantity, much of the human impact on the environment arises directly from cities or from satisfying the needs of cities. There is every reason to believe that at least half of the impact on the environment attributable to the entire region is traceable to its cities. This is so partly because Asia is now more than 35% urbanized and will be over 50% by 2030. It is more than a matter of numbers: living standards and consumption tend to be higher in cities, and industrialization usually accompanies urbanization in the region. To be sure, there are major environmental impacts of rural mining, forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry, and small manufacturing, but even those human activities are predominantly undertaken to meet the needs of the dwellers of cities, either in the region itself or halfway around the world. On the side of opportunity, much of the urban development in the region has yet to occur. New cities are being built and older cities rebuilt. Some of these cities will be the largest the world has ever known, and the region will be the locus of more mega-cities than any other region. However, the urban population of Asia will not primarily be concentrated in cities of five million or more, but instead in thousands of smaller cities. All these cities could be built and operated by adopting the largely unsustainable models of the cities of Europe and North America. It would be far better if policy makers would create new urban models from modern building and transportation technologies, distinct urban physical designs, different social structures, new industrial technologies, and more efficient uses of everything from energy through water to solid materials. Some of these environmental actions would have immediate benefits
for urban dwellers, while at the same time reducing long-term environmental
impacts. Cleaner air, for example, would benefit many urban residents,
and if that were achieved by more efficient energy generation and
transportation (or different energy sources), the long-range effect
on climate change would be significant. Instead of being ecological
hazards, the cities of the region could become ecological devices.
These cities could be explicitly designed to reduce their impacts
on the environment while at the same time improving the quality
of life of their residents.
The involvement of APN in a program of research focused on the
Asia-Pacific region is the first concrete step towards the International
Human Dimensions Programme-Industrial Transformations (IHDP-IT)
research focus on cities and industrial transformation. Support
from outside APN will soon be made available by the U.S. National
Science Foundation, which has notified the first author that it
intends to fund an "Incubation Proposal" in its competition for
Biocomplexity in the Environment funding. The NSF-funded project
will be in support of the IHDP-IT program and will involve seed
grants, workshops, and other activities all over the world. Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000 Michie Kishigami, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) was launched in 1990 as the international environmental agency for local governments under the sponsorship of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), and the Center for Innovative Diplomacy. Members that were only 45 in 1991 have rapidly spread into more than 350 cities, towns, counties, and their associations representing nearly 300 million people worldwide, constitute ICLEI nowadays. Our mission is to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global environmental and sustainable development conditions through cumulative local actions. We believe the significance of local actions and efforts, which could really improve our living conditions and quality of life while keeping balance between economic, social and environmental development. Local movements worldwide strengthened through a peer network could change both national and international policies. Our challenge at a local level is getting more and more important as central governments, in the process of decentralization, are shifting part of their responsibility for social development and environmental protection to local governments. We are implementing three international campaigns: Local Agenda 21 campaign, Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Campaign ?, and the water campaign. Local Agenda 21 campaign aims to achieve sustainable development. It seeks to generate tangible results and increase standards of local performances through the institution of broad-based participatory planning processes. CCP Campaign is also a global campaign to reduce the emissions that cause global warming and air pollution. Some 400 municipalities worldwide are now preparing and enacting plans to reduce energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. The CCP operates a variety of technical assistance projects that focus on innovative approaches to financing and implementing energy-efficiency measures in municipal and commercial buildings, reducing greenhouse gas emissions through effective waste management programs and land-use planning, and developing strategies and programs to reduce emissions in the transportation sector. Water campaign launched in June 2000. Freshwater management is one of the most important environmental, social, and economic issues facing local governments around the world. Water supply, sanitation, urban drainage and water pollution issues are intertwined with basic rights and needs of local citizens, industries, and the freshwater environment. The campaign supports local governments and their stakeholders to achieve tangible improvements in the sustainable use of fresh water resources. Each of the campaigns generate the policy commitment of participating municipal councils to address regional and global environmental challenges at the local level and help built local government capacity by providing technical assistance and training. ICLEI organized "Global Cities 21" World Congress of Local Governments and celebrated its 10th anniversary in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany from June 28 to July 2, 2000. More than 450 delegates from 62 countries participated in discussions under the main theme of the Congress: transformations for a sustainable future. They examined trends throughout the 1990s and shared their experiences with a variety of tools and methods in the areas of climate protection, environmental management, freshwater management, land use management, and local sustainability planning. Then ICLEI's full council reviewed and identified regional and campaign priorities and adopted the 2001-2006 ICLEI Strategic Plan. For the next UN Earth Summit in 2002, the global community is to assess the progress in implementing the UN's Agenda 21 action plan for sustainable development and the related "Rio Convention" on climate change and biodiversity. In spite of local efforts to tackle the global issues, our society does not seem more sustainable than it was ten years ago. The Global economy has created wealth only for a minority of people and industries in certain regions. The rapid progress in telecommunications technology has brought a flood of information and knowledge to those who can gain access. As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor, not only in developing countries, but also in developed countries has widened. People in poor regions are alienated from not only the development of technology but also from more basic needs. More than one billion people in the world still do not have access to safe drinking water. Three billion do not have access to proper sanitation. Furthermore, the population is growing in areas where people are suffering from poverty and insufficient living conditions. Thus it has become more and more evident that the sustainable society will not be built without poverty alleviation. Asia is the most populous continent both at present and as forecasted for the near future. By about 2020, four of the five most populous countries in the world will be in Asia (India, China, Indonesia and Pakistan) with Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Philippines not so far behind. Asia is experiencing urbanization with the present level of about 35%, which is expected to increase beyond 50%, and move towards 75% in the first half of the 21st century. ICLEI strategic plan 2001-2006 identifies the trend of increasing
needs of improvement in urban life, air quality, freshwater supply
and sanitation system, especially in developing urban areas. We
advocate the importance of bottom-up approaches, in fact, locally
designed initiatives can provide a cost-effective, sustainable way
to achieve national and global objectives. On the other hand, we
urge national and international institutions to increase financial
and technical support to the regions suffering most notably from
human environmental degradation. Thanks to the development of telecommunications,
it has become easier to transfer technology, but the social and
human development can be attained with much more effort and time.
Local governments are often too weak to cope with increasing urbanization
and its huge problems because of insufficient decentralization. The CCP campaign has already started in several cities in the
Philippines, with the financial support of US AID. Cities in India
and Indonesia will soon join the campaign. Many local governments
in Japan have strengthened their cooperation with South-Asian cities
based on their pollution control and water management experience. Back to the contents of APN Newsletters Oct 2000 OCEANIA A. 2nd AOSIS Workshop: 26 July to 4 August 2000 As the days count down to the November's crucial climate summit in The Hague, officially the sixth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, governments must meet their deadline for finalising rules for operating the Kyoto Climate Treaty. The Apia workshop was organised against this background to create an opportunity for the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to consider their final position on the Climate Change issue. As signatories to the UNFCCC, island nations are obliged to submit national communications, highlighting their climate change vulnerability taking fully into account the adaptive and mitigatory options at their disposal. This demands a certain degree of in-country capacity for convention-related negotiations and reporting. It became apparent at Apia that while most SIDS were able to prepare their communications on time in keeping with international guidelines; the demands on their resources have excessive. Many found themselves stretched for the necessary data, human and financial resource and institutional capacity to complete the task effectively. As a means of addressing the above, the participants strongly supported the idea of the creation and strengthening of 'centres of excellence' in the Pacific, the Caribbean and Indian Ocean. SIDSNet, the communication arm of AOSIS was given additional responsibilities and support to keep SIDS informed of all aspects of global change initiatives from around the world. B. Workshop on climate variability and change and their
health effects in Pacific Island countries: 25-28 July 2000-09-07 C. South Pacific Regional workshop on Pacific Global Ocean
Observing System (PacificGOOS) D. 'Joint SOPAC/SPC Regional Energy Meeting (REM2000)' in
Tarawa, Kiribati, 20-26 Sep. 2000
As a result of months of negotiations involving the APN and the START-Oceania secretariats and out of Fiji's own convictions, Fiji has become a member of the APN Network in June 2000. Fiji is the first Pacific Island country to join the Asia pacific Network. E. APN Liaison Officer Compiled from report by acting APN Liaison Officer Prof. K.
Koshy, Chemistry, SPAS
SOUTH ASIA A workshop on Greenhouse gases, water and transport for mega-cities was organized in Kobe, Japan from 12th to 14th July 2000. The special session on GHG emission and mega-cities on 14th of July, 2000 included presentations made by teams from India, Japan, Korea, and China. The presentations focussed on the kind of activity data available in Delhi, Calcutta, Tokyo, and Beijing respectively. The group decided to prepare a draft on GHG budget and future projection scenarios of selected mega cities in Asia. This will identify gap areas in data availability in each of the cities and also form a basis for inter-comparison and prioritization of issues. Also it was decided to submit a proposal to APN before September 30th 2000 on "Pilot study program on mega cities and GHG". The project will include elements like inter-comparison of different mega cities, projections for future GHG emissions using different scenarios built upon past history and policy implications. This study will provide information to adopt policies for proper mitigation approaches in mega-cities which could have long term as well as short term advantages of reducing GHG emissions but also reducing air pollutants. Therefore both climate change and health related issues will be addressed. This project is envisaged to facilitate in formulation of a mega-project for submission to other International funding agencies like GEF etc. by the year 2002-2003. A discussion meeting was organized by Center for Global Change Research, National Physical Laboratory, on 3rd August 2000 on "Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health India". Epidemiologists in the areas of Malaria, Respiratory diseases, Cataract, experts in measurement of various Atmospheric Constituents, its Chemistry and the trends in Climate Change participated in the meeting. The aim of the meeting was to formulate a concrete work plan for a three year project on the above mentioned subject funded by the UK Government, to assess the related work done so far in India and identify the basic data availability in key impact areas of human health, namely effects of climate change on malaria, aerosols on respiratory diseases and that of enhanced levels of UV radiation on cornea and development of cataract. The areas identified for work in the project included (a) Impacts of climate change on malaria, water borne diseases, and heat stress, (b) Impacts of aerosols on respiratory diseases in mega cities in India and (e) Effect of UV change on corneal damage and cataract. The work plan for these areas include, hotspot identification, development of empirical models based on historic climate parameters, aerosols and UV with the respective incidences for short term and long term projections of incidences, case studies for malaria in few cities, correlated measurements of aerosol size distribution, concentration and composition with incidence of respiratory disease.
*October 9th-14th Workshop on "Problems related to Tropical
Environment", Palampur, India. *October 16th -18th Workshop on Nitrous Oxide Measurement
Campaign, New Delhi, India *March/April 2001 (TBA): Workshop on "Future Water Balance
Issues in South Asia" List of some of the recent publications from SASCOM: NOx emissions from biomass burning of shifting cultivation areas from tropical deciduous forests of India ? estimates from ground based measurements, Krishna Prasad V., Gupta Prabhat K., Sharma C., Sarkar A. K., kant Yogesh, Badrinath KVS, Rajagopal T., and Mitra A. P., Atmospheric Environment, vol. 34, 3271-3280, 2000. Sub-region (district) and sector level SO2 and NOx emissions for India: Assessment of inventories and mitigation flexibility; Amit Garg, P. R. Shukla, Sumana Bhattacharya, V. K. Dadhwal, Accpted for publication in Atmospheric Environment, July 2000. Regional and Sectoral Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in India, Amit Garg, Sumana Bhattacharya, P.R. Shukla, and V.K. Dadhwal, Accepted for publication in Atmospheric Environment, August 2000. Global Change Series on Acid rain studies: Indian Scenario; S. N. Das, R. S. Thakur, A. P. Mitra; SASCOM Scientific Report no. 16, August 1999. Compiled from report by APN Liaison Officer Dr. Sumana Bhattacharya
SOUTHEAST ASIA The Land Use Cover Change project has extended to Phase 3 with funding from APN. Phase 3 includes three new teams from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and focuses on illustrating a regional picture of land use change, rather than individual case studies. A one-week workshop was held in July 2000 at University Kebangsaan in Malaysia to introduce the project to the new members, build trust amongst the collaborators, and train the new teams in methodologies and modelling to implement the project. Funds have recently been sent to the new teams for the purchase of computer hardware and software. The latest student thesis, amongst many others in the past, was completed under this project: Lee Han Hong. M.A. Thesis 2000. Urban Land Use Mapping Using SPOT HRV Image in the District of Petaling, 1998. The National University Singapore and Universitas Jambi, Indonesia are implementing a project to determine spatial and temporal variations in sediment yield and greenhouse gas emission from soils affected by land use changes. In the past decade, peat swamps and mangroves at the study sites have declined, while plantations have increased. A methodology through which rates of erosion/subsidence of peat can be determined is being developed. Data on suspended sediments, dissolved organics, and spectral reflectance of water are being integrated with SPOT images in an attempt to estimate regional greenhouse gas budgets. NUS held a RS/GIS training workshop in June 2000 as part of the capacity building activity of this project. SEA START RC has been contracted by the Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA), a GEF-funded project implemented by UNEP, to conduct the testing of GIWA's assessment methodology. The methodology assesses the environmental and socio-economic impacts of selected environmental issues on international water bodies. The Gulf of Thailand, an international water body bound by Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, has been chosen to be one of the two testing sites. Environmental issues for the Gulf of Thailand have been prioritized, and indicators identified to be used to assess environment and socio-economic impacts of overexploitation and mangrove loss. Dr. Jariya Boonjawat has resigned as director of SEA START RC, but will remain as a research scientist to concentrate on her work on urban heat island and trace gas emissions from changing land use. We thank Dr. Jariya for her many efforts on behalf of START, SARCS, and SEA START RC. Dr. Anond Snidvongs has been appointed acting director. Compiled from report by SARCS Liaison Officer Ms. Connie Chiang TEMPERATE EAST ASIA Regional News from APN Liaison Officer for Temperate East Asia: 1. Field survey in arid and semi-arid areas in western Northeast
China and eastern Inner-mongolia. 2. Participation of regional climate workshop in Trieste,
Italy. 3. Participation of Asia-Pacific Advanced Network Conference
2000, Beijing, China. 4. START Special Science Bulletin on START TEA-RC is being
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