The purpose of this international meeting was to address Land Cover Land Use Change (LCLUC) and its impacts, with a regional focus on Southeast Asian countries. The meeting served as the inaugural event for synthesizing various LCLUC issues in the region, funded as a part of NASA South/Southeast Asia Research Initiative (SARI) that Krishna Vadrevu (ST11) is leading. The Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC) served as the local host. The US Department of State facilitated the meeting, and the US Ambassador to Vietnam, Marc Knapper, delivered welcome remarks, highlighting LCLUC in the region and their link to environmental degradation. Other inaugural addresses were given by Garik Gutman (NASA HQ), Chris Justice (University of Maryland College Park), Matsunaga Tsuneo (National Institute of Environmental Studies, Japan), Vadrevu (NASA MSFC), and Vu Tuan (VNSC).
The meeting was organized into 7 different sessions: 1) Inaugural session; 2) Programmatic and space agency presentations; 3) Land Cover/Land Use Change; 4) Urban Land cover/land use change; 5) LCLUC, Agriculture, and Water Resources; 6) Fires, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Pollution. Each of these sessions included a panel discussion and an open forum session, focusing on identifying the needs and priorities for synthesis studies for that theme. The final session, Discussion Session on Synthesis, focused on all themes. A total of 40 presentations were delivered during the 3-day meeting, including both keynote and technical presentations. Nearly 68 participants from various South/Southeast Asian countries attended the meeting. Before the meeting, a 2-day training workshop was held at VNSC on “Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Applications.” It provided an opportunity for interaction with experts in forestry, agriculture, and water resources, focusing on utilizing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Optical datasets. The workshop included introductory lectures and practical training for basic and advanced methods. Nearly 40 early career researchers attended and received certificates upon completion. As part of the meeting outputs, Vadrevu is leading Special Issues of peer-reviewed papers on LCLUC in Environmental Research Letters journal. The meeting presentations can be accessed from the NASA LCLUC program website (https://lcluc.umd.edu/meetings/international-meeting-land-coverland-use-change-lcluc-southsoutheast-asia-and-synthesis?page=).
