Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute among guests at Asia Oceania Geosciences Society 2024 meeting

KUCHING (June 27): The Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute (Tropi) took part in the 21st annual meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) in Pyeongchang, South Korea from June 23 to 28 this year.

The significant event brought together over 3,000 participants from around 40 countries, creating a melting pot of ideas and innovations.

Among the distinguished attendees were the Tropi director Datu Dr Lulie Melling and researchers Dr Frankie Kiew and Yazid Imran Muhammad Faizul.

The AOGS, established in 2003, has been a beacon for the exchange of scientific knowledge that addresses critical geo-scientific issues among academia, research institutions and the public, especially in Asia and Oceania.

Lulie co-chaired the session entitled: ‘Direct Flux Measurements for Immediate Societal Benefits’ alongside Dr George Burba, a renowned bio-atmospheric scientist, author of multiple books on the subject and co-founder of the CarbonDew Community.

“The aim of the session was to explore and promote the practical application of direct measurements of heat, water and greenhouse gases (GHG) to create tangible benefits for society, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region,” according to Tropi in a statement.

One of the highlights of the session was the presentation by Nikaan Koupaei Abyazani, an American PhD student from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is currently attached to Tropi.

His presentation entitled ‘Enhancing Tropical Peatland Vulnerability Assessments Through Remote Sensing and Carbon Flux Measurement’ tested the capability of remote sensing to detect changes in groundwater levels in tropical peatlands.

The height of the water table plays a crucial role in determining the magnitude of carbon emissions, making this work an important contribution to the field.

The session also included poster presentations from Tropi researchers.

Kiew’s poster entitled ‘Assessing the Impact of Land Use Change on Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Tropical Peatland Ecosystems’ focused on a tropical peat swamp forest in the Sri Aman Division that has been converted to a plantation.

His research underscored the important role that these ecosystems play in global carbon sequestration and revealed that such land use changes could potentially contribute to global carbon emissions.

This insight is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to climate action and terrestrial life.

Yazid Imran presented a poster titled ‘Application of Machine Learning on Long-Term Observations of Net Ecosystem Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Tropical Peatlands’.

In his work, he applied data-driven machine learning methods to predict carbon emission data collected over an eight-year period from the tropical peat swamp forest of Maludam.

The aim of this assessment was to assess whether machine learning models can reliably predict greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands and thus contribute to national reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The poster presentations by Yazid Imran and Kiew generated interesting discussions among the conference participants.

There were great discussions at the poster session and notably, this dialogue can further stimulate future research collaborations.

As the curtain fell on the AOGS annual meeting, anticipation grew for the next meeting, which will take place in Singapore from July 27 to Aug 1, 2025.

The contributions of Tropi and its researchers at this meeting underscored the Institute’s commitment to addressing environmental challenges and highlighted the importance of international collaboration in advancing our understanding of the Earth’s complex systems.