Land-use change, such as developing agricultural crops on farmlands (Abdullah and Nakagoshi 2008) and oil palm plantations (Johaerudin and Nakagoshi 2011), is one of the primary causes of forest loss in Southeast Asia. These human impacts also affect global warming through the loss of carbon sinks and subsequently increased CO2 emission. The relationship between these two factors, however, has not been quantified. Quantification is vital to improve the planning and management of land use. Given this situation, landscape ecological approaches and GIS are increasingly being used. Under this research theme, we proposed land-use planning and design strategies that balance natural resources usage and carbon sink protection in landscapes by analyzing the patterns of land-use change from the aspect of realizing a low carbon society.
The idea of significant landscape is acceptable, and the following three types can be recognized: urban/technical, cultural, and natural landscapes. We proposed effective management on all the three types of landscapes: urban areas (Pham and Nakagoshi 2008; Kong et al. 2010; Arifin and Nakagoshi 2011; Byomkesh et al. 2012), forestry and agriculture areas (Abdullah and Nakagoshi 2008; Wicaksono and Nakagoshi 2009; Wicaksono et al. 2010a, b; Hakim and Nakagoshi 2010; Hong et al. 2011; Kaswanto and Nakagoshi 2012), national parks (Amelgia et al. 2009; Caesariantica et al. 2011; Firdaus and Nakagoshi 2013), and natural areas (Lin et al. 2009).
Biomass energy technology and the development of sustainable agriculture are essential for present and future humankind. We are currently conducting research studies in many fields such as biotechnology, plant protection, weed management, utilization of allelopathy, analytical analysis, chemical synthesis, crop breeding, development of crops tolerant to climatic changes, and biomass energy technologies. We have proposed some technologies for development of biomass energy (Xuan et al. 2009, 2012; Khanh et al. 2013) and reviewed the current trend of biomass technology to support policy planning of the agricultural sector in developing countries (Diep et al. 2012b).
In the area of biomass energy polices, we try to develop the social systems required to promote the effective use of biomass resources in developing countries. We proposed a systematic approach to design a social system in the Yellow River Basin, China (Higashi and Shirakawa 2011). We also focused on the roles of stakeholders to contribute effective institutional design for sustainable forest management in developing countries (Higashi 2011; Higashi and Shirakawa 2011; Higashi et al. 2012).
