The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Tom Pugh

Thomas Pugh

Senior lecturer

Tom Pugh

Are Land-Use Change Emissions in Southeast Asia Decreasing or Increasing?

Author

  • Masayuki Kondo
  • Stephen Sitch
  • Philippe Ciais
  • Frédéric Achard
  • Etsushi Kato
  • Julia Pongratz
  • Richard A. Houghton
  • Josep G. Canadell
  • Prabir K. Patra
  • Pierre Friedlingstein
  • Wei Li
  • Peter Anthoni
  • Almut Arneth
  • Frédéric Chevallier
  • Raphael Ganzenmüller
  • Anna Harper
  • Atul K. Jain
  • Charles Koven
  • Sebastian Lienert
  • Danica Lombardozzi
  • Takashi Maki
  • Julia E.M.S. Nabel
  • Takashi Nakamura
  • Yosuke Niwa
  • Philippe Peylin
  • Benjamin Poulter
  • Thomas A.M. Pugh
  • Christian Rödenbeck
  • Tazu Saeki
  • Benjamin Stocker
  • Nicolas Viovy
  • Andy Wiltshire
  • Sönke Zaehle
Show all

Summary, in English

Southeast Asia is a region known for active land-use changes (LUC) over the past 60 years; yet, how trends in net CO2 uptake and release resulting from LUC activities (net LUC flux) have changed through past decades remains uncertain. The level of uncertainty in net LUC flux from process-based models is so high that it cannot be concluded that newer estimates are necessarily more reliable than older ones. Here, we examined net LUC flux estimates of Southeast Asia for the 1980s−2010s from older and newer sets of Dynamic Global Vegetation Model simulations (TRENDY v2 and v7, respectively), and forcing data used for running those simulations, along with two book-keeping estimates (H&N and BLUE). These estimates yielded two contrasting historical LUC transitions, such that TRENDY v2 and H&N showed a transition from increased emissions from the 1980s to 1990s to declining emissions in the 2000s, while TRENDY v7 and BLUE showed the opposite transition. We found that these contrasting transitions originated in the update of LUC forcing data, which reduced the loss of forest area during the 1990s. Further evaluation of remote sensing studies, atmospheric inversions, and the history of forestry and environmental policies in Southeast Asia supported the occurrence of peak emissions in the 1990s and declining thereafter. However, whether LUC emissions continue to decline in Southeast Asia remains uncertain as key processes in recent years, such as conversion of peat forest to oil-palm plantation, are yet to be represented in the forcing data, suggesting a need for further revision.

Department/s

  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system

Publishing year

2022-01-01

Language

English

Publication/Series

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

Volume

36

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Topic

  • Physical Geography

Keywords

  • atmospheric inversions
  • book-keeping models
  • Dynamic Global Vegetation Models
  • forest area
  • land-use changes
  • Southeast Asia

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0886-6236