PROJECT #2002-VR2
Second APN Workshop on Vegetation Recovery in Degraded Land Areas
| Project Leader |
Prof. S. MATSUMOTO
Faculty of Bioresource Sciences
Akita Prefectural University
Shimo-Shinjyo, Nakano 241-7
Akita 101-0195
JAPAN
Tel: +81-18-872-1622
Fax: +81-18-872-1677
Email: asmarum@akita-pu.ac.jp
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| Funding |
US$ 50,000
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| Participating countries |
Participants from the following countries were funded: Australia, Cambodia,
Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, P.R. China, Philippines,
Russia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. They were also funded partially by Hyogo
Prefectural Government, Japan and the State Government of Western Australia.
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Brief introduction and background
Vegetation degradation, especially in degraded lands, is of serious
consequence to the environments of the Asia-Pacific region and their inhabitants.
It is caused by a combination of inappropriate use of land due to rapid
population increase, water deficiency, and unstable global climate change.
Vegetation rehabilitation and promotion of sustainable land use practices
are amongst the most important, practical, on-ground initiatives we can
develop to maintain urban and rural communities. This APN project has an
important capacity building role in the region, and thus in collaboration
with Hyogo Prefectural Government and the State Government of Western Australia,
organized and supported the 2001 Workshop, hosted by the Centre for the
Management for Arid Environments, in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The
following year (2002/2003) APN sponsored another vegetation recovery in
degraded land areas workshop to develop project proposals of high quality
by polishing the preliminary project proposals derived from the 2001 Workshop.
Outline of activities conducted
In the 2001 Kalgoorlie Workshop discussion group sessions were held
to pinpoint proposals for future priority research, development, and training
projects across the Asia-Pacific region on various topics associated with
vegetation recovery in degraded land areas. Presentations that followed
outlined the situation in APN member countries and the work in progress
to address the associated problems. In the lead-up to the discussion group
sessions participants held a number of informal meetings regarding future
priority projects. The three concurrent discussion sessions were:
- Rehabilitation of Degraded Land;
- Sociology and Economics of Vegetation Recovery; and
- Plant Resources.
Participants chose which session they wished to attend. Recorders noted
the output of the sessions, and the output was presented and accepted at
the end of the meeting. Following the 2001 Workshop a report on the outcomes
of the discussions was prepared and circulated. The report recommended
amalgamating some of the thirteen proposals, and thus a list of the final
eight proposals was composed. At that time participants were asked to nominate
the research topic(s) they wished to help develop and in so doing a number
of research teams were formed.
Outcomes and products
The Workshop proceedings of the "Capacity Building Workshop for the
Asia-Pacific Region, Vegetation Recovery in Degraded Land Areas, Kalgoorlie
27 Oct - 3 Nov, 2001" was produced and at the 2nd Workshop in Kobe, 26-28
November 2002, the final eight project proposals were allocated to three
working groups. The allocation of working groups was as follows:
Working Group 1
- Vegetation Recovery from Grazing/Grazing and Vegetation Management;
- Improvement and Rehabilitation of Mine Sites; and
- GIS and Remote Sensing for Vegetation and Land Condition Monitoring.
Working Group 2
- Sustainable Farming Systems to Overcome Salinity;
- Asia-pacific Human Dimensions/Dynamics Workshop; and
- Participatory Ecosystem Approach to Watershed Management.
Working Group 3
- Maintaining the Network of Delegates; and
- Training Course in Research Methodology.
Future directions and follow-up work
Our task is now to develop research, demonstration, and training projects
of a high standard. These should be broad and generic enough to suit differing
conditions in Asia-Pacific countries while being specific enough for the
needs of development priorities in individual countries. Individual delegates
and countries will be expected to form a basis for international research
activities. It was also proposed that a network of scientists in the Asia-Pacific
involved in vegetation recovery in degraded land areas be established.
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