PARENT SESSION
Symposium 14: Ecological impacts of Asia on global sustainability at multiple scales
Organized by: YD Choi, S Miao, and C Peng
Wednesday, August 10, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 517 B, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Land use change, greenhouse gases, emissions management, and sustainability in Asia.

Peng, Changhui^*,1, Jiang, Hong², Fang, Jingyun³, ¹ Institute of Envronment Sciences, Monreal, Quebec, Canada² Conservation Biology Institute, Corvallis, Oregon, USA³ College of Environmental Science, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT- Asian has been one of the priority regions in the global climate change and carbon cycle studies. Emissions of principal greenhouse gases (GHGs) from Asia are increasing faster than those from any other continent. This is a result of rapid economic growth and as well as the fact that almost half of the world's population lives in Asian countries. About 80% of the world's potential for increasing carbon storage in forest lies in developing countries. Substantial areas of available forest lands in Asia could be managed for conservation and sequestration of carbon. Establishment of plantations and agroforests could account for a large amount of the total mitigation potential on Asian forest lands. Evaluating the annual sinks and sources of carbon from land-use change may help Asian countries choose how to comply with commitments for reduced emissions. In this paper, we will use China and other Asian countries as example to illustrate the potential impacts of land-use change and land management practices on terrestrial carbon sequestration and storage as well as to identify management strategies that may be used to manage degraded lands to increase carbon sequestration and enhance the prospects for sustainable development in developing countries.

Key words: carbon sequestration, carbon management, Asia