Land Use/Cover Changes, Environment and Emissions in South/Southeast Asia – An International Regional Science Meeting

Meeting Focus: 

Several countries in South and Southeast Asia are undergoing rapid changes due to urbanization and industrial development. The population growth together with rapid economic development is causing immense pressure to convert land from forest to agriculture and from agricultural areas to residential and urban uses with significant impact on ecosystem services. Increased Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) in the region is disrupting and perturbing atmosphere, forest resources, biodiversity, regional climate, biogeochemical cycles, water resources, and other ecosystem services. The aim of this meeting is to review the availability, potential, and limitations of different data sources and methodologies for the monitoring and the study of LCLUC, and quantification and its impact on the environment. The meeting presentations will focus on synergies among various approaches and provide recommendations on how to improve the use of earth observations, ground data and modeling techniques for the improved understanding of land use sources and sinks.

The purpose of this international meeting is to provide a forum to discuss LCLUC and its impacts, with a regional focus on South and Southeast Asian countries. The meeting will be organized around the following themes:

• LCLUC and impacts on the atmosphere;

• Agriculture and water resources,

• Biomass burning, including land-atmosphere interactions

• Urbanization

• Land use in forests and mountain regions

• Land use in the coastal zone

Day-1 – Plenary LCLUC sessions on Agriculture; forests; Land atmospheric interactions;

Day-2 – Full Day Parallel sessions on two different themes, i.e., Atmosphere and Agriculture

Theme-1-Atmosphere

Session-1 – GHG emissions and inventories

Session-2 – GHG impacts on the environment

Session-3 – GHG modeling

Session-4 - Discussion Session on Atmospheric Research Needs and Priorities            

Theme-2-Agricultural land use

Session-1 – Mapping and monitoring of crops

Session-2 – Crop yield and prediction

Session-3 - Decision Support Systems

Session-4 – Discussion Session on Agricultural Research Needs and Priorities

Day-3 – Plenary LCLUC sessions on Urban and Coastal areas

Overview presentations will present recent research accomplishments and the state of the art on these topics in South/Southeast Asia, and formulate future research directions and applications development needs for the region. The meeting will explore opportunities for coordination and collaboration among research scientists and teams and ongoing projects aimed to advance our understanding of the spatial extent, intensity, social consequences, and impacts on the environment in South/Southeast Asian countries.

International Steering Committee

Dr. Krishna Prasad Vadrevu, Remote Sensing Scientist, SARI Lead, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, USA, Phone: 256-321-9492; and Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park, USA; Email: krisvkp@umd.edu

Dr. Garik Gutman, Program Manager, NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program; Landsat Program Scientist, Washington D.C. USA; Phone:1-202-358-2770; Email: ggutman@nasa.gov

Dr. Chris Justice, Program Scientist, NASA LCLUC; Science Lead, NASA Harvest; Co-Chair , GEOGLAM ; Professor & Head, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park (UMCP), 4321 Hartwick Road, Suite 400, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA, Phone: 301.405.4050; Email: cjustice@umd.edu 

Dan Irwin, Remote Sensing Scientist and Director, NASA SERVIR Program, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, USA, Email: daniel.irwin@nasa.gov

Dr. Toshimasa Ohara, Fellow, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Tsukuba, Japan; Email: tohara@nies.go.jp

Dr. Matsunaga Tsuneo, Head, Center for Environmental Measurement and Analysis (Environmental Information Analysis Section), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Tsukuba, Japan; Email:matsunag@nies.go.jp

Dr. Atul Jain, Prof. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA; Email:jain1@illinois.edu

Dr. Jiaguo Qi, Professor, Asia Hub, Nanjing Agricultural University, China/ Department of Geography, Michigan State University, USA. Email: qi@msu.edu

Dr. Cheikh Mbow, START Director, START - www.start.org; Email: cmbow@start.org 

Local Steering Committee

Dr. Kasturi Devi Kanniah, Head Local Steering Committee, Associate Professor, Department of Geoinformation, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru. Email: kasturi@utm.my; Ph:60197260925

Dr. Abd Wahid Rasib, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geoinformation, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru. Email: abdwahid@utm.my; Ph:607-5530885

Dr. Alvin Lau Ming Shin, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geoinformation, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru. Email: alvinlau@utm.my; Ph:607-5530924

Dr. Norhakim Yusof, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geoinformation, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru. Email: norhakim@utm.my; Ph:607-5530884

Dr. Nurul Hawani Idris, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geoinformation, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru. Email: hawani@utm.my; Ph:6075530855

Dr. Nurul Hazrina Idris, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geoinformation, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru. Email: nurulhazrina@utm.my; Ph:6075530745

Local Science Support

Dr. Noor Zaitun Yahaya, President of The Clean Air Forum Of Malaysia (My CAS), School of Ocean Engineering, University Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Terengganu. Contact No: 60 6683972. Email: nzaitun@umt.edu.my;  http://mycas.com.my/

Dr. Narimah Samat and Dr. Tan Mou Leong, School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia. Email: narimah@usm.my; mouleong@usm.my

Dr. Lim Hwee San, Associate Prof., School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia. Email: hslim@usm.my

Dr. Helmi Zulhaidi Mohd Shafri, Associate Prof., Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Selangor Malaysia. Email: helmi@upm.edu.my

Dr. Arnis Asmat, Associate Prof., Institute of Research Management and Innovation, Universiti Teknologi Mara, 40450, Shah Alam, Malaysia. Email: Rnis_annis@salam.uitm.edu.my

Dr. Justin Sentian, Associate Prof., Faculty of Science & Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Email: jsentian@ums.edu.my

Dr. Nurfashareena Muhamad, Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM, Bangi, Malaysia. Email: fashamuhamad@gmail.com

Dr. Mastura Mahmud, Professor, School of Social, Development and Environmental Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Email: mastura@ukm.edu.my

Local Logistic Support

Dr. Kasturi Devi Kanniah, Assocaite Prof., Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Email: kasturi@utm.my; Ph:60197260925

Fateen Nabilla Rasli,  Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, UTM, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Email: fateenrasli@gmail.com; Ph:601160676587

Meeting Venue

DoubleTree by Hilton Johor Bahru, 12 Jalan Ngee Heng, Johor Bahru, Johor 80000 Malaysia
https://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/malaysia/doubletree-by-hilton-h...