ID :
288264
Thu, 06/06/2013 - 14:08
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Thailand, WWF launch TREEMAPS project

BANGKOK, June 6 (TNA) - The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, under the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, has joined forces with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in launching a project in Thailand on tracking carbon emissions with the LiDAR technique, which is also applied for the first time in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. Thai Permanent Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Chote Trachu and Charge d’Affaires of the German Embassy to Thailand Dr. Ingo Winkelmann jointly launched the Tracking Reductions in Carbon Emissions through Enhanced Monitoring & Project Support (TREEMAPS) at the Rama Gardens Hotel in Bangkok on Thursday. The WWF, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), and Germany have jointly sponsored the project to survey reductions in carbon emissions in Thai forests to conserve the forests and their benefits for the sake of humans and the environment in the country. Under the project, implementers will examine capacities of Thai forests in storing carbon, using the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technique, in which a 3D airborne laser scanner is applied for accurate remote sensing, with its findings to be used for carbon credit management and international credibility for Thailand’s sales of its carbon credit. TREEMAPS will start at the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forest complex and will conclude the project by 2015. TREEMAPS will also support forest carbon mapping for the sake of the conservation of forests. Thailand has, meanwhile, lost as many as 577,000 hectares of nationwide forests over the past 20 years, estimated at about 0.15 per cent of national forests annually. (TNA)

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