Asia Looking Ahead:

Foreword

The Woods Hole Research Center addresses the great issues of environment through scientific research and education and through applications of science in public affairs.

Climate change and the warming of the earth are at the core of our research efforts, and implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a major focus of our Program on Science in Public Affairs. Before the Third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the UNFCCC in Kyoto in 1997, the issue of "participation" of developing country Parties was high on the agenda, and, as we approach COP6 in The Hague, remains under active discussion in the intergovernmental negotiations. Such participation includes the submission of "national communications" by developing country Parties. Under the Climate Change Convention, all countries that are Party to it are required to submit a national communication - a national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and removals as well as descriptions of steps taken to implement the Convention. These submissions have the potential for highlighting the practices of these nations as they carry out their national development plans.

This volume looks specifically at eight nations in Asia in their efforts to produce such communications, the process undertaken by each, and the information available for the inventories. These countries were selected because of their potential in affecting the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They also include those countries that could be among the most affected by a changing climate. Presently, critical decisions are being formulated to address issues of implementation of the Convention and to prepare for the entry into force of its Kyoto Protocol. We hope that the information presented here will foster a better appreciation of the topic among the Parties to the Convention and all other participants in the negotiations.

• Dr.George M.Woodwell
  President and Director
  The Woods Hole Research Center
  Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
  November 2000