United States Aids Climate Change Mitigation in Southeast Asia
By Nancy L. Pontius
Special Correspondent
Littleton, Colorado - During the past four years, the Coca-Cola Company and World Wildlife Fund (WWF)- a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization - have studied how to help ecosystems in the Mekong Delta respond to sea-level rise and other challenges predicted by climate change models, Dekila Chungyalpa, WWF Mekong Program managing director, told America.gov.
The study examined how Tram Chim National Park adapts to higher levels of sea water, a problem to which local organizations typically responded by building barriers, such as walls and dikes, to keep the salt water out. However, "what we discovered [for the park] was counterintuitive," Chungyalpa said. The study found that the ecosystem adapted much better when barriers intended to protect and enclose the area were removed and ecosystem flows and hydrological flows were restored. Also, the fish populations grew when the barriers were removed, she said, because it allowed fish to freely migrate, move and spawn.
According to the study, a wetland is one of the perfect buffers for rivers, she said, because a wetland "regulates water flow, provides nutrients, and helps eliminate significant pollution from river systems."
The WWF and the Coca-Cola Company are reaching out to large industries interested in the Mekong Delta, such as those in the garment industry, to encourage them to join a corporate task force that will research ways to respond to climate change, Chungyalpa said.
In a separate project, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center is installing monitoring stations in the Mekong Delta to examine how mangrove forests respond to a rise in sea level by measuring land-level changes relative to local sea level. The first monitoring stations were installed in July, and additional stations will be constructed during the next 12 months. Monitoring will be conducted for the next several decades.
According to Charlie Demas, director of the USGS Louisiana Water Science Center, climate change models predict sea levels will rise one to two meters over the next 100 years. That rise or related changes in water flow could cause rice crops to decline, triggering a tremendous food-security concern in a region that contains the world's top rice producers, Tim Hamlin, research associate at the U.S. nonprofit Stimson Center, told America.gov.
This situation will be worse if dams are constructed on the Mekong, Hamlin said, because dams would reduce the silt flow down the river that is deposited in the delta, building up the coastland, and providing the key source of nutrients for rice production. The problem is compounded by heavy annual rainfall that causes flooding in this low-lying area that is eroding, he said.
In some scenarios, floods and droughts might increase, Hamlin added, and more salt water might spread into agricultural land, making the land no longer farmable. Perhaps 8 million to 10 million people ultimately could be displaced, Chungyalpa said, adding she also worries about threats to wildlife and biodiversity.
SISTER-RIVER PARTNERSHIP
Through the sister-river partnership between the Mekong River Commission and the U.S. Mississippi River Commission, members of the partnership will consider climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Currently, researchers at Can Tho University in Vietnam are collecting data and working with USGS to develop the Forecast Mekong modeling software that will be available via the Internet. That software is being developed to show the impact of climate change and other challenges to the river basin. For example, if temperatures rise or dams are constructed, the model will show the anticipated results on the river, Tanya Rogers, U.S. State Department desk officer for the Lower Mekong Initiative, told America.gov.
In July, the State Department sponsored a three-week tour in the United States for professionals from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia that focused on watershed management, but also covered topics on gaining a better understanding of climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and investigating ways to respond and adapt effectively.
In the future, the State Department hopes to bring government officials from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam to the United States to share information about climate change management, Rogers said.
CAPTURING METHANE GAS
In an effort to mitigate climate change, the Methane-to-Markets Partnership initiative led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to capture methane because this gas is 23 times as effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere as is carbon dioxide, and methane gas escaping into the atmosphere may contribute to climate change.
Initially, EPA and partner organizations began working in Thailand and Vietnam to determine the potential for using anaerobic digesters to treat livestock waste as a strategy for reducing methane emissions, Ashley King, co-director of the Methane-to-Markets Partnership's administrative support group, told America.gov. To date, 11 demonstration projects in Thailand and three projects in Vietnam have been installed using anaerobic digesters to capture methane released from swine farms and use the gas for heat and cooking fuel.
In the future, EPA and other groups will use education and government policy efforts to encourage widespread use of anaerobic digesters, King said, and to investigate various funding options. For example, EPA is providing technical support for Chiang Mai University in Bangkok to explore financing options for small-scale anaerobic digesters, including bundling a number of small projects together to more easily access potential financing.
EPA also hopes to see other Southeast Asian industries consider capturing methane gas from more waste sources, including during processing palm oil, cassava and tapioca, as well as from slaughterhouses, she said.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)
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