REN YUNRUI

PhD Student

Research Title: Climate governance of Nature-based carbon sinks in southeast Asia
Research Group: Tropical Environmental Change (TEC)
Thesis Advisor: Prof David Mark Taylor

The issue of climate change is closely related to global development, especially in low latitudes areas which are investigated as the most significant areas in global carbon sinks. Southeast Asia, as a low latitude and tropical region rich in carbon sequestration potential, will provide an opportunity for scholars to investigate, assess and carry out a series of environmental arrangements applied in typical Southeast Asia carbon sinks including terrestrial and mangrove forests, peatlands, and agricultural soils. This promising research locating NCS governance under socio-spatial background will potentially improve the resilience and sustainability of Singapore and other ASEAN countries.

My thesis will be conducted with a mixed methodology. Targeting carbon sinks from a governance perspective, the research links natural science studies about the forest, coastal and agrarian areas where resources and ecosystems have the potential resistance to environmental pollution and greenhouse gases. To answer the natural process questions, quantitative research needs to be conducted in the assessment and estimation of carbon sink capability, which is inseparable from ecological and geological research. Climate governance and management with the socio-spatial relations, economic realities and land use regimes remain critically understudied and can be researched in a qualitative approach to reveal their complexities.