ZHOU YUCHUAN

PhD Student

Research Title: Understanding the carbon dynamics in Southeast Asian forests and identifying Nature-Based Solutions.
Research Group: Tropical Environmental Change (TEC)
Thesis Advisor: Prof David Taylor
Co-advisor: Dr Hao Tang

Tropical forests are an essential part of the global carbon cycle, accounting for 68% of global carbon stocks. Southeast Asia is an important region to be considered in such a context, as its tropical forests constitute nearly 15% of the global inventory, but it is also one of the regions with the heaviest levels of deforestation. Over 90% of forests in Southeast Asia remained unprotected as late as the early 2000s due to significant challenges including environmental indifference, corruption, poor governance of natural resources, poverty and lack of funding. Without proper management, tropical forests could be turning from a significant carbon sink to a net source due to the disturbance of carbon balances as a result of continued forest degradation and deforestation, despite its vital climate change mitigating potential.

My doctoral research aims to improve understanding of the carbon dynamics of tropical forests in Southeast Asia to help address the socio-ecological challenges of applying nature-based solutions in the region and to support goal development and policy implementation on increasing forest carbon sinks. I use combined methods such as remote sensing, in situ observations and AI techniques to obtain data of higher quality on the Southeast Asian forests. With these data, existing models can be improved, and future scenarios of how tropical forests will respond to land use and climate change can be better predicted.