South/Southeast Asia accounts for more than 25% of the global population. Also, countries in the region have the highest population growth rate. This 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 forest resources, biodiversity, regional climate, biogeochemical cycles, water resources and other ecosystem services. 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 Asia. The meeting will be organized as a joint initiative of the University of Maryland College Park, USA, global change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START), the Global Observation for Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) Program, with START and GOFC-GOLD being partially sponsored by the NASA's LCLUC Program, and with the guidance and help of Burma's Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Forests (MOECAF), University of Yangon, Burma, and several other academic/non-academic institutions in Burma.
The meeting is planned around four themes: 1). agriculture and water resources, 2). forest cover mapping and monitoring; 3). urbanization and 4). land-atmosphere interactions including fires. The meeting will serve as a forum to interact with international/regional remote sensing and GIS experts working on South/Southeast Asia. During the meeting, overview presentations will highlight recent research accomplishments and the state of the art on different LCLUC topics and will formulate future research directions and applications development needs for the region. This includes the new initiative South/Southeast Asia Research Initiative (SARI). The meeting will explore opportunities for coordination and collaboration among research scientists, teams, and ongoing projects aimed to advance our understanding of the spatial extent, intensity, social consequences of LCLUC and feedback to regional climate with special focus on Myanmar. The meeting will also highlight ongoing projects in the region which address land use change such as OneMap project in Myanmar. Participants will include representatives from academia, government organizations, non-government organizations (NGO’s), stakeholders, private companies involved in remote sensing and GIS, etc.
Dates
January 12th, 2016: Coastal, Peri-Urban LCLUC around Yangon Focus meeting and field trip
January 13th-15th: International Meeting
January 16th & 18th: Training on remote sensing and geospatial technologies for LCLUC applications
Executive committee
-Dr. Chris Justice, Head, Dept. of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park, USA; Email: cjustice@umd.edu;
-Dr. Krishna Prasad Vadrevu, Associate Research Professor, Dept. of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park, USA; Email: krisvkp@umd.edu;
-Dr. Soe Myint, Professor, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, USA; Email: Soe.Myint@asu.edu
-Dr. Garik Gutman, Program Manager, NASA LCLUC Program; Email: ggutman@nasa.gov
Meeting advisory board
-Dr. Nyi Nyi Kyaw, Director General, Forest Department, Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF), Myanmar.
-U Kyaw Kyaw Lwin, Dy. Director General, Forest Department, Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF), Myanmar.
-U Tint Swe, Director, Forest Department, Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF), Myanmar.
-Dr. Jiaguo Qi, Professor, Dept. of Geography, Michigan State University, USA.
-Dr. Atul Jain, Professor, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
-Dr. Ruth DeFries, Professor, Ecology, Evolution and Evolutionary Biology, Columbia University, USA.
-Dr. Rama Nemani, NASA Ames Research Center, California, USA.
-Dr. Dan Brown, Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, USA.
-Dr. Hassan Virji, Director, START, Washington D.C., USA.
-Mr. Senay Habtezion, Program Specialist, START, Washington D.C., USA.
Local executive committee
-Dr. Kyaw Naing, Professor, Pro-Rector, University of Yangon, Myanmar; Email: drkyawnaing2009@gmail.com
-Dr. Htun Ko, Professor, Head, Dept. of Geography, University of Yangon, Myanmar; Email: htunko66@gmail.com
-Dr. Nilar Aung, Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Yangon, Myanmar; Email: Nilaraung1965@gmail.com
Meeting venue
Summit Park View Hotel
Training venue
University of Yangon
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