The GOFC-GOLD Southeast Asia Regional Informational Network International Workshop took place August 4th-7th, 2015, in Bogor, Indonesia. The meeting focused on Impacts of Land Cover/Land Use Changes (LCLUC) on Greenhouse Gases/SLCP and Aerosols in the Asian region, and was sponsored by START International, Inc.; GOFC-GOLD program, USA; the National Institute of Environmental Studies, Japan; NASA, USA; the University of Maryland College Park, USA; and Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia.

This highly successful meeting brought nearly 120 researchers from various countries including Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Indonesia. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss LCLUC and its impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and aerosols in the Asian region. The workshop was organized into six different sessions:  1) Regional and national science initiatives; 2) Land Cover/Land Use Change, Forests, and GHG emissions; 3) Inventories, Monitoring and Modeling of GHG’s and Air Pollution; 4) Vegetation Fires and Biomass Burning Emissions; 5) Aerosols and radiation, and 6) Regional Science Summary and South East Asia Regional Information Network (SEARRIN) – Research Priorities.  Each session was chaired by international experts who are authorities in the discipline and commenced with invited keynote presentations by field experts.  The fourth day of the workshop included a field trip to Gudung Gede National Park to observe local LCLUC and the biodiversity of the park.

The workshop recognized that our shared atmosphere and transboundary movement of pollutants require a regional approach to:

• advancing the science to better understand the sources, processes, and trends
• developing and evaluating approaches to mitigate the adverse effects of GHGs and aerosol pollutants from different sources
• developing policy solutions

The workshop recommended increased communication between scientists within the region via collaborative projects and workshops to enable:

• sharing of local knowledge and data
• the development of common methods
• the development of the increased capacity of scientists across the region to address  common problems
• the synthesis of scientific results and findings
• the packaging of scientific information in ways that can inform policy and the
• public at both the regional and national level 

The workshop outputs include: A) journal special issue papers in Environmental Research Letters to be edited by Drs. Krishna Vadrevu and Toshimasa Ohara;  B) Articles for the book entitled, “Land-Atmospheric Interactions in Asia,” edited by Drs. Krishna Vadrevu, Toshimasa Ohara, and Chris Justice.  All researchers working in the area of land use/cover changes, greenhouse-gas emissions, and aerosols in the Asia region were invited to contribute to the journal special issue and book.

Contact Krishna Vadrevu for more details: krisvkp@umd.edu