Thematic Report of the AASA Project“Sustainable Development in Asia”
TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE ASIA:NATURAL RESOURCES
| Coordinating Lead Authors | |
| Lei Shen | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Cahit Helvacl | Geology Department,Dokuz Eylül University,Turkey |
| Lead Authors | |
| Lei Shen | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Jiyuan Liu | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Litao Liu | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Tao Dai | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Hongqiang Li | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Yang Zhao | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Lan Fang | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Contributors | |
| Cahit Helvac₁ | Geology Department,Dokuz Eylül University,Turkey |
| Christopher C.Bernido | The Central Visayan Institute Foundation,Philippines |
| Nikolay P.Pokhilenko | Institute of Geology and Mineralogy,Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,Russia |
| Gaohuan Liu | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Zhijun Yao | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Yao Lv | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Luguang Jiang | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Zengrang Xu | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,CAS,China |
| Reviewers | |
| Namik K.Aras | Turkish Academy of Sciences,Turkey |
| Anna Stabrawa | UNESCAP-Thailand |
| Alper Baba | Izmir Institute of Technology,Turkey |
| Ashfaq Ahmad Chattha Harsh Gupta | University of Agriculture,Pakcistan |
| Namik K.Aras | National Geophysical Research Institute,India |
Foreword
Asia is not only the largest and most populated continent in the world,but also the region with the most diverse development models and most dynamic economies.In the past half century,Asia has been witnessing rapid economic growth and playing an increasingly more important role in world’s political and economic arena.At the same time,Asia has developed the commonly-called “Asia Model”,which has attracted worldwide attention.The Asia Model shows a new way for the developing nations or late-development countries on how to realize industrialization and modernization.All these achievements are made by Asian countries with a focus on the advantages of their late development,re-examination of their internal cultural values,active absorption of modern S&T and management experiences and constant exploration and innovation.
These social progresses have made great contributions to the realization of the UN Millennium Development Goals and have played a pioneering and demonstration role on what can be accomplished in today’s world.However, Asia is facing big challenges.The most prominent one is that the rapid development of Asian economies is based on large input of production factors at the huge expense of natural resources and environment,which has been sharpening the conflicts in population,resources,environment,socio-economic development.The sustainable development in the region is being severely threatened and challenged.The rethinking and questioning of the Asia Model in the international community is growing especially in the era of post Asia Financial Crisis and Global Financial Crisis.
It is not only a common challenge for the governments of Asian countries, but also a common task for the Asian scientific communities to cope with the resources and environment crisis and to seek a new way of sustainable development in Asia.AASA,as a non-governmental and regional international scientific organization with 26 member academies,is mandated to initiate and conduct investigation on issues concerning S&T,economic and social development.As early as April 2007,AASA proposed to initiate a project on “Sustainable Development in Asia”(SDA)within AASA framework in the hopes to provide consultation and advice for national and regional governments in Asia and relative international organizations.This study proposal was approved at AASA board meeting held in Russia in August 2007 with the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the initiator.The project covers environment,energy,resources and culture with the establishment of four working groups amongAASA member academies.
Soon after,the SDA project was officially launched and implemented at different levels.The efforts include the clarification of the research content, emphasis,structure and division of tasks.Various meetings at the working level and international workshops have been held to coordinate the research activities and project progress:the first international workshop under this project was held in February 2008;the AASA Workshop on.Sustainable Energy Development in Asia in November 2008;the AASA Workshop on Agricultural Culture and Asian Sustainable Development in August 2009;and the AASA Workshop on Environment and Resources in September 2009.
With the joint efforts of AASA member academies,the SDA project has now come up with a series of studies including four thematic reports, namely,”Towards a Sustainable Asia:Energy”,”Towards a Sustainable Asia: Environment and Climate Change”,”Towards a Sustainable Asia:Natural Resources”,and “”Towards a Sustainable Asia:The Cultural Perspectives”.Based on these four reports,a synthesis report has also been written entitled:“Toward a Sustainable Asia:Green Transition and Innovation”.All these reports have looked deeply into the common issues and challenges for the Asian sustainable development from different perspectives.
The synthesis report is an integration and extension of the four thematic reports.It aims at the major resource and environmental challenges and issues in Asia in the general context of the challenges of financial crisis and climate change,and in line with green transition and innovation in Asia.Of its major findings,it includes:the diagnosis of key resource and environmental issues in Asia,such as water,minerals,land resource,environmental pollution,ecodegradation,energy and environment and climate change,the revelation and reflection of the diverse,different,complicated and severe nature of resource and environmental issues in Asia,the systematic analysis of the main driving forces and future trends of resource and environmental changes in Asia,the empirical analysis and discretion of current evolution of the relationship between environment and development in Asia with the establishment of theoretical and conceptual models,the initiation of principals,strategic framework,focus and advice for promoting the green development of Asia on the basis of summarizing Asias advantages and disadvantages.
The synthesis report differs from other similar reports.It focuses more on the combination of theoretical and empirical research in the evolution of environment and development,on the combination of trends analysis in time series and comparative study at spatial scale,and on the combination of Asias integrated analysis and regional and national differences.Besides,attempts have been made here on the innovative modeling of the evolutionary and theoretical relationship between environment and development,analysis of the driving forces in environmental evolution,and utilization of newly developed composite index to conduct empirical research of Asia’s environment and development relation in the evolution.
We hope the reports will be of good value to the facilitation of the green development in Asia,providing advice on dealing with the shortage of conventional resources,environment pollution and climate change,fostering new economic growth and enhancing Asia’s competitive advantages.This is the first time that AASA has ever undertaken such a study,and it surely leaves grounds for more detailed study and analysis of various issues and challenges that Asian countries face in the future.
The SDA project is sponsored by AASA.I want to give my special thanks to all AASA member academies for their consistent support,advice and assistance,without which,the accomplishment of such an internationally interdisciplinary scientific project would be impossible.My thanks also go to all the members in the working groups,especially Professors Namik Aras and Yi Wang,cochairs ofthis study,without whom,efficiency and quality of the study would not be guaranteed.I also need to thank United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP),InterAcademy Council(IAC)and InterAcademy Panel (IAP)etc.for providing us the references and various advice and inspirations. Last but not the least,I want to express my thanks to all friends and the institutions that have rendered us encouragement and assistance all the way along.
The SDA project features with a wide range of fields and a huge amount of data,some of which are still in their early stage of development.Any comments or uggestions from our friends and various international institutions are warmly appreciated.
Prof.Jinghai Li
President
The Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia(AASA)
September 20,2010
Preface
Asia is an important continent with population of 3.8 billion and concentrates most developing countries in the world.Over the last several decades,many nations in Asia have seen quick economic development,while some strategic resources needs in Asia increase simultaneously.In the next 20 years and even long terms of the 21st century natural resources demand in Asia will increase largely.Asia occupies the important position of the resources supply and demand in the world.It has not only some key resources producing countries in the world,but main resources consuming countries as well.Unfortunately,Asian economic progress in general has been achieved at a high cost.Under combined pressure of climatic change and human disturbances,the natural environment in Asia has been steadily degrading, which compromises the future development and the livelihood of its huge residents.Impacts of climate change are especially visible in Asia on various sectors including agriculture,forestry,biodiversity conservation,water resources,human health,air quality,energy security,and others.Climate change related environmental deteriorations in Asia are already serious,and will very likely further worsen in future which is continuously challenging the sustainability of natural resources.
In 2008 the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia(AASA)initiated a project of “Sustainable Development in Asia”which includes four research groups of energy,natural resources,environment and culture.In regard to the task of natural resources,it is required to take grasp of the status of natural resources in Asia,identify some common problems and challenges,summarize successful efforts that some countries in Asia have made,and propose several major projects and policy recommendations for sustainable use of natural resources in Asia.
To implement this task appointed by the whole project framework,we carried out large amounts of desk survey of literature review,data and information production,translation and dissemination of case studies that documented some so-called “best practices and models”of effective and sustainable use of resources in each country of Asia.A final policy report has been created and circulated among some limited scholar community.
This book is completed based on the final report of the sub-project entitled as “Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in Asia”under the whole project of AASA.This sub-project aims to bring together a wide range of experts and scholars involved in development and management of natural resources in Asia,within the context of sustainable use of natural resources and effective improvement of resources use.We consider that there is a good opportunity of cooperation on the sustainable use and management of natural resources in Asia.Strengthening the cooperation is a demand for resources safety and environmental sustainability that guarantees Asian environmental health and promotes socio-economic development in all countries of Asia.
During 2008 and 2009 two workshops were organized in Beijing and Izmir.The first workshop was held on February 25-262008 in Beijing of China and devoted to the whole project,including four groups of energy,environment, natural resources,social development and culture,27 experts from 10 countries attended.On September 24-272009 the second workshop in particular regard to “Environment and Resources in Asia”was held in Izmir of Turkey and aimed to highlight on interactions among these two major issues of environment and natural resources in the context of sustainable development in Asia,where 34 representatives from 10 AASA member countries and one observer contributed to the discussions.
At the first workshop,Prof.Dr.Lei Shen and Prof.Christopher C.Bernido as the group leaders hosted the discussion and Prof.Dr.Cahit Helvaci,Prof. Nikolay P.Pokhilenko,Prof.Yi Wang,Prof.Gaohuan Liu,Dr.Luguang Jiang, Dr.Zengrang Xu,and Dr.Tao Dai also joined the workshop.We concluded that the research on natural resources and sustainability should focus on issues relaing to land,water,mineral resources and biodiversity and their common challenges and diversified features were also identified.We acknowledged that the following perspective issues,tendency,needs and problems should be included in the context of natural resources.First,database establishment and data sharing in AASA should be priority action to be carried out.Second,natural resource assessment,exploration and mapping are needed to cooperate among all countries of AASA.Third,future consumption and demand based on population profile(structure,growth rate,education,and employment)should be estimated.Fourth,active cooperation on natural resource management within AASA is encouraged.We also identified some basic opportunities for the role of science and technology,pilot projects are recommended to be implemented, including education and training of young generation,community participation capacity building,and improvement of research and technology innovation in natural resource exploration and development.We recommended that a science foundation in AASA be established and supported by member countries.AASA should establish a database of natural resources for all countries in Asia and select urgent problems within member countries and find some solutions to work out.
The second workshop,Prof.Gensuo Jia,Prof.Lei Shen,Prof.Cahit Helvaci,Dr.Alper Baba and Prof.Namik Aras as co-chairs,was organized by AASA and Turkish Academy of Sciences(TUBA),hosted by Turkish Academy of Sciences and Dokuz Eylul University(DEU),sponsored financially by Inter Academy Panel(IAP),Inter Academy Council(IAC),TUBA,AASA,Dokuz Eylul University(DEU),the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences (DEU-FBE),Izmir Institute of Technology(IYTE)and Turkish Chamber of Geological Engineering(JMO).Participants shared information about resources situation,discussed interlinks with the environmental issues in their own country,and addressed the common challenges in Asia.Recommendations were also made on how to prepare a consultative report on sustainable use of natural resources in Asia.Some academic articles and viewpoints of attendees were presented in its conference proceeding and final suggestion report.The experts emphasized the following points in terms of resources use in Asia:
First,resource efficiency is cross-cutting and applicable to the use of allresources.Therefore it needs to be investigated in all resources contexts. Second,water availability with appropriate quality and water use efficiency in the region are among the key issues in Asia and should be given high attention. Third,impact of climate change on agricultural resources development and food security should be given high priority.Strong support should be given to research in genetic engineering to increase the production of rice,wheat and corn;as well as control of erosion and natural hazards should be paid urgent attention to be controlled.Fourth,coal mining and its consumption is one of the core issues that concern the natural resources management, environmental quality,and climate change.Problem-solving oriented projects should be promoted and cooperation between member countries should be supported.Fifth,about 60%of the coastal areas of the world are in Asia-Pacific region.Coastal resources,however,have not been effectively developed.Sixth, establishment of technology and information-sharing platform and mechanism would contribute to the advancement of the collaboration and sustainable development in resources utilization in Asia.Last but not least,resources and environment are linked on the basis of all types of ecosystems.Biodiversity conservation is not only very important for the sustainable development of Asia but can also contribute a lot for our world.
Except two workshops mentioned above,we have undertaken a large amount of literature reviews and data analysis.These works are mainly attributed to some of my colleagues,doctoral and post doctoral students,including Profs.Jiyuan Liu,Gaohuan Liu and Zhijun Yao,Dr.Yao Lv,Ms.Litao Liu,Mr.Tao Dai,Mr.Hongqiang Li,Ms.Yang Zhao and Ms.Lan Fang.
Since Asia is undergoing a dynamic transition process,this book is inevitable to be imperfect due to the limitation of knowledge and time of the research group.We acknowledge that some major references might be omitted and forgotten but any comments and corrections are warmly welcomed.
Study Group on Natural Resources
August 2010
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Current Status and Trends 3
2.1 Water resource 4
2.2 Water resource allocation 10
2.3 Land resource usd and environmental impacts 14
2.4 Mineral resources 29
2.5 Biodiversity conservation 35
3 Challenges 39
3.1 Major problems 39
3.2 Major challenges 48
4 Successful Case Studies 52
4.1 Demand side management of water resource 52
4.2 Arid desert strategies 53
4.3 Three-dimensional development model of agriculture,forestry and fishery 55
4.4 Comprehensive recycling techniques for mineral resources 56
4.5 Quantitative conservation strategy of biological resources 58
5 Policy Recommendations 61
5.1 Regional policies 61
5.2 Technology sharinginitiatives 62
5.3 Cross-border cooperation 63
5.4 Technology andinformation sharing platforms 64
5.5 Capacity-building strategies 65
6 Project Proposals 66
6.1 Monitoring land degradation and desertification 66
6.2 Increased development of small and medium-sized municipal wastewater treatment plants
67
6.3 Sustainable tourism development and biodiversity conservation 69
6.4 Recycling programs at small and medium-sized mines and further development of
Reclamation technology 71
6.5 Local capacity-building of natural resources 73
References 76