Smoke-haze pollution: a review of the 1997 episode in Southeast Asia

In the second half of 1997, large areas in Southeast Asia were severely affected by a smoke-haze pollution episode caused by the emissions of an estimated 45,600 km² of vegetation that burnt on the Indonesian islands Kalimantan and Sumatra. To document the impacts of these fires on air quality, data for total suspended particulate matter (TSP) and for particulate matter below or equal to 10 microns in diameter (PM₁₀) from selected sites in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are analysed in this paper. These data are supplemented by meteorological data, satellite images and a summary of related research. TSP was above 2,000 μg m^–3 for several days in Indonesian locations close to the most extensive fire activity. In Malaysia and Singapore, ambient particle concentrations increased to several times their average September levels. Characteristically for emissions from vegetation burning, the additional atmospheric particle loading during the smoke-haze episode was predominantly due to an increase of the fraction below or equal to 2.5 microns in diameter (PM_2.5). Due to the dominance of respirable particles (PM_2.5) in the smoke-haze, air quality reporting based on TSP or PM₁₀ may be inadequate to assess the health risk. Upgrading of PM_2.5 monitoring facilities is therefore needed. Reducing the probability of similar smoke-haze events in future would require appropriate fire use and smoke management strategies. Electronic Publication     

Regional Research Capacity -Building inSustainability Science:Facts, Gaps, and Futures in Northeast Asia

Evidence shows that some conceptual ideas relevant to both local and global sustainability have been adopted in some official documents in northeast Asian nations, particularly China, South Korea, and Japan. This seems to be a very positive signal for the future development of sustainability science in this region. However,studyes show that there are still some major gaps there. One is the problem of how to build up the regional research capacity of sustainability science among northeast Asian research institutes across different disciplines as well as different political systems. Another is how to shift the conceptual frameworks of sustainability science into the operational policy frameworks. There are four major obstacles to the enhancement of regional research capacity-building in sustainability science. In order to build up the regional research capacity in sustainability science and to realize both local and global goals of the sustainable development in northeast Asia, this paper proposes some ba     

From insight to action in reservoir management—lessons from Asia

The World Commission on Dams (WCD) has now presented its final report on the problems with large dams. Many dam projects were found to be underperforming, especially those built for irrigation purposes. WCD also reports that many projects fail to meet current standards of social equity. A reallocation of costs and benefits is needed, but entrenched interests make this a difficult task. This article identifies shortcomings in large Asian irrigation projects: why the problems emerged, and what could be done to improve the performance of existing projects. The article argues that Asian irrigation agencies take mainly an engineering perspective, focusing on the dam itself. In a large number of cases, it takes over 10 years for the infrastructure to be installed and for the water to be delivered to the fields of the command area. Agencies need to improve their competence in dealing with social and environmental issues. This article argues that social and economic infrastructure is often inadequate; there is a need for an integrated view of the role of agriculture in development. Furthermore, adaptive management practices and water user participation can often be critical elements. To be successful, participation needs to be gender sensitive, and stakeholders at all income levels need to be consulted. To bridge the gulf between rhetoric and action, there is also a need for independent evaluation of dam projects.     

Supporting climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessments in the Asia-Pacific region: an example of sustainability science

Sustainability is achieved only when there is full reconciliation between: (1) economic development; (2) meeting, on an equitable basis, growing and changing human needs and aspirations; and (3) conserving the limited natural resources and the capacity of the environment to absorb the mulitple stresses that are a consequence of human activities. The linkages between climate and sustainability are examined in the context of both the wider Asia-Pacific region and local level climate risks and adaptation responses. These findings are used to underpin and illustrate several implications for sustainability science. Climate change is seen as both an impediment to increasing sustainability and as an opportunity, though in most cases the former far outweighs the latter. Assessments of climate change vulnerability and risk are shown to be of critical importance because they inform decisions as to where resources for adaptation are best invested. They also show whether global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions need to be strengthened because of limits to adaptation. In practice, adaptation takes place at many levels, essentially ranging between tangible interventions at community and enterprise level and national and international efforts to strengthen the enabling environment for adaptation. It is informative to undertake regional assessments of adaptation, even though most adaptation interventions need to reflect local conditions, including local adaptive capacities. The foregoing findings, based in part on a series of regional and local case studies, lead to several recommendations for further research that will help reduce barriers to implementing responses that reduce climate related risks, including adverse consequences for sustainability. The recommendations relate to such themes as making optimum use of predictive capabilities, characterising the linkages between climate change and sustainability, implications of the required rates and magnitudes of adaptation, institutional responses that enhance adaptive capacity, use of new and traditional technologies, the multiple dimensions of social responsibility, and enhancing the enabling environment for adaptation at the community and enterprise level. If these recommendations are acted upon they will, in turn, help address much needed improvements in quantifying the costs and benefits of adaptation, prioritising adaptation options, assessing sustainable development tradeoffs, and monitoring the success of adaptation initiatives. Such improvements will have even greater utility if they are incorporated into user-friendly decision support tools for adaptation.     

Regional priorities for wetlands conservation in West Asia and North Africa

Though characterized by a scarcity of water, West Asia and North Africa region has a large number of wetlands of various types supporting a rich biodiversity. However, the government efforts to reverse the trend of wetlands degradation fall short of the policy goals due to various reasons. The paper outlines the priorities for wetlands conservation in the region.     

东亚地区沙尘气溶胶的源和汇

从沙尘气溶胶的源地、输送及清除等几方面 ,讨论了沙尘天气发生的基本条件 ,即强风、大尺度环流形势和中尺度天气系统。论述了东亚沙尘气溶胶的源和汇及其输送过程 ,并初步探讨了沙尘气溶胶沉降入海及其对海洋生态系统的可能影响。东亚沙尘气溶胶的源地主要集中在新疆、甘肃和内蒙的沙漠地带 ,中国北部每年输入大气的沙尘气溶胶总量约为 43× 1 0 6 T。中国西北地区每年向海洋的黄沙输送量约为 1 0 6～ 1 0 7T,通过干、湿沉降入海的沙尘气溶胶对海洋的初级生产有促进作用或与藻类的爆发性繁殖有关 ,入海的气溶胶还含有多种污染成分 ,从而可能对海洋生物和生态系统产生损害。     

Scientific collectives in region-building processes

During the last 30 years, growing demand for science-based policy making has contributed to the mobilization of scientific cooperation alongside transnational political arrangements for addressing environmental issues. Following the contemporary trend toward regionalizing environmental policy and practice, many of these scientific joint efforts have focused on a regional scale. This article examines regional scientific cooperation in the context of the institutionalization of mountain regions in Europe. Such cooperation can be observed from the Pyrenees to Central Asia, albeit with a degree of variation that largely remains unexplored in scientific research. Sometimes scientific cooperation served to lay the groundwork of a mountain policy initiative, other times it appeared in its wake; some examples appear as loose networks of individual scientists, others are set up as formalized monitoring and observation centers; finally, some scientific joint efforts are formally linked to, or incorporated in a mountain policy initiative, while others are largely independent. The article proposes a new typology for understanding the interactions between regional scientific mobilization and regional policy making and provides up-to-date portraits of six main cases.     

利用源示踪技术计算日本和韩国低层大气SO2和PSO4来源

利用区域空气质量模式CAMx中的PAST(源示踪技术)对2010年东亚地区的总硫(SO₂₊PSO₄)的源-受体关系进行了模拟计算. 模拟区域内共设定43个源区,其中在中国领土范围内设定了33个源区. 在源-受体关系计算中,将日本本岛分为北部、中部和南部三部分,分别设为受体区域,同时还将远离陆地的海洋背景点冲绳和韩国济州岛设为受体点.模拟结果表明,日本本岛北部、中部和南部的总硫来源存在一定的差异:日本本国的贡献率分别为73.8%、77.1%和65.9%,中国的贡献率分别为23.5%、20.2%和25.8%. 韩国本土总硫的本国贡献率为67.8%,中国的贡献率为27.2%. 对韩国济州岛和日本冲绳而言,二者总硫的本国贡献率均为26.0%,远低于日、韩两国的其他地区,不能代表国家间跨界输送的总体状况. 受体区域跨界输送的总硫季节变化明显,而且各区域的变化趋势也并不一致,其中日本南部地区和韩国本土1月最强,7月最弱;日本北部和中部地区在4月最强,1月最弱. 跨界传输的总硫对日本和韩国总硫贡献量小于2.5 μg/m3.对于日、韩两国影响较大的中国源区主要为山东、河北、江苏、辽宁等地,各源区对于日、韩总硫贡献量的季节变化明显. 东亚地区低空总硫的传输通量空间分布与利用CAMx模拟的2010年日本和韩国总硫的源-受体关系结果相一致.      

Modeling mercury emissions from forest fires in the Mediterranean region

Mercury emissions from forest fires in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea have been estimated on the basis of satellite observations for the year 2006. The assessment has been done by means of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products (MOD12Q1, MOD14A2, MOD15A2, MOD44B). Estimates show that wild fires have burnt 310,268 ha in the Region, affecting by 45% the Mixed Forest and by 37% the Evergreen Needleleaf Forest and the Evergreen Broadleaf Forest. The amount of biomass burned was about 66,000 Mg for the Evergreen Needleleaf Forest, 72,000 Mg for the Evergreen Broadleaf Forest and 196,000 Mg for the Mixed Forest. The total amount of mercury released to the atmosphere in the Mediterranean countries accounted for 4.3 Mg year⁻¹ with Italy, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Algeria, Spain and Croatia being the most contributing countries with annual emission ranging from 330 to 970 kg year⁻¹. The maximum release of Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) and particulate mercury (Hg(p)) in the region occurred in July with 1,218 kg. The uncertainty of our estimates is comparable with that associated to current assessments of mercury emissions from major industrial sources.     

On Sand and Duststorms and Associated Significant Dustfall Observed in Chongju-Chongwon,Korea during 1997–2000

Monitoring of the occurrence of sandstorms and dustfallphenomena from 1997 to 2000 was carried out. We refer tosandstorms, duststorms and blowing sand as the phenomenaoccurring in the source region, while significant dustfall is thephenomenon that occur in the sink area. It was noted that while the sandstorms in deserts and loess in NW-N China and Mongolia occurred any time during the year while severe sandstorms occurred frequently from March to May after the springthaw. The wind erosion in the source region usually occurred withwind speeds greater than 8 ms^-1. However, severe sandstorm phenomenon occurred with wind greater than 15 ms^-1 for at least 3 hr or more. In the source regions, sandstorms occurred over60–120 days per year. In Mongolia, the observation of thenumber of sandstorm days decreased due to the increase in rainy days.When a dust cloud from a desert reached the sink region,significant dustfall in the Korean Peninsula occurred due tothe lack of strong winds. We defined the episode ofsignificant dustfall (SD) with the following values: TSP250, PM₁₀ 190 g m^-3 and visibility 6.5 km or less. In Korea, 8–12 episodes of SD occurred per yearwith 12 to 22 SD days. The maximum concentrations of TSP recorded were 989–1396 g m^-3 with PM₁₀ values of 861–996 g m^-3 and with the lowestvisibility of 1.4–1.6 km.