インド・ウッタラカンド州における大規模なバイオガス導入が森林再生にもたらす効果

• Project/Area Number: 21K05664
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 40010:Forest science-related
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: アバタル ラム 北海道大学, 地球環境科学研究院, 准教授 (90648057)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Project Status: Granted (Fiscal Year 2022)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000); Fiscal Year 2023: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000); Fiscal Year 2022: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2021: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
• Keywords: REDD+ / Forest biomass / biogas / bigas / バイオガス

Outline of Research at the Start

森林劣化はヒマラヤの生態系の中で最も大きな課題の一つであるが、その原因の１つは多くの人々が家庭における調理に必要なエネルギーを木材燃料に依存していることにある。現在、木材燃料の代替としてバイオガスなどの持続可能なエネルギーの導入が、アジアやアフリカなどで受け入れられ始めている。これまでのバイオガスの研究は大気汚染による健康被害の改善や、伐採が減ることによって森林への圧力が減少する可能性について焦点を当てていた。しかし、バイオガス導入の結果として、実際にどのように森林再生が促進されたかについては明らかになっていない。

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

As the aim of the research is to monitor the impact of large-scale biogas intervention on forest regeneration in Uttarakhand, India. In this financial year, we conducted following activities.
1.Mapping forest cover change using Landsat data in the study area. This data is useful to conduct a field survey and validation of results based on change in forest cover and intervention of biogas plants.
2.Fieldwork and focused group discussion with the local people were conudcted to find out whether biogas is a mainstream solution for fuelwood. During the discussion, people mentioned various benefits of biogas. Respondent mettioned that biogas is not sucessful in some areas as an alternative energy source because of various reasons such as: reduction in the production of enough animal dung because of a decrease in the number of animals, poor-design/technology of biogas plant, poor training to run the plant, seasonality, migration etc. We have also visited the places where people are still collecting the fuelwood from the forest and interviewed them to find out the reasons.
3.We collected data on various biogas plants and their locations in the study area. This data is useful to get quantitative information about forest biomass regeneration using remote sensing data. PALSAR based biomass estimation is under processing.

Current Status of Research Progress

2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.

Reason

Now the research is progressing as was originally planned because we can travel to India to collect field data and focused group discussion.

Strategy for Future Research Activity

In the next financial year, we will work on the field-collected information and satellite-derived products. To identify the deforestation hotspots and locations of biogas plants. We will process PALSAR and TanDEM-X data to generate biophysical parameters of the forest in the study area. PALSAR-based backscattering information will also be useful to identify the potential recovery of the forest in the biogas sites. TanDEM-X based coherence based information to estimate forest height. Multi-temporal data processing will be conducted to identify the changes in the biophysical parameters of forests. Forest inventory data will also be collected to validate the results of satellite estimated results. Later socio-economic, elevation data and distance between village and the neighboring forest will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the biogas plants. Finally questionnaire survey will be conducted to know people’s acceptability towards biogas and forest regeneration.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] The role of remote sensing during a global disaster: COVID-19 pandemic as case study (2022)
  • Author(s): Louw, A.S., Fu, J., Raut, A., Zulhilmi, A., Yao, S., McAlinn, M., Fujikawa, A., Siddique, M.T., Wang, X., Yu, X., Mandvikar, K., Ram Avtar
  • Journal Title: Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment Volume: 27 Pages: 12-12
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.rsase.2022.100789
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Land Use Change and Prediction for Valuating Carbon Sequestration in Viti Levu Island, Fiji (2022)
  • Author(s): Avtar, R., Rinamalo, A.V., Umarhadi, D.A., Gupta, A.; Khedher, K.M.,Yunus, A.P., Singh, B.P., Kumar, P., Sahu, N., Sakti, A.D.
  • Journal Title: Land Volume: 11 Issue: 8 Pages: 18-18
  • DOI: 10.3390/land11081274
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Towards evaluating gully erosion volume and erosion rates in the Chambal badlands, Central India (2022)
  • Author(s): Raj Raveena、Yunus Ali P.、Pani Padmini、Avtar Ram
  • Journal Title: Land Degradation & Development Volume: 1 Issue: 9 Pages: 1-16
  • DOI: 10.1002/ldr.4250
• [Journal Article] Monitoring Metropolitan Growth Dynamics for Achieving Sustainable Urbanization (SDG 11.3) in Kolkata Metropolitan Area, India (2021)
  • Author(s): Mithun Sk、Sahana Mehebub、Chattopadhyay Subrata、Johnson Brian Alan、Khedher Khaled Mohamed、Avtar Ram
  • Journal Title: Remote Sensing Volume: 13 Issue: 21 Pages: 4423-4423
  • DOI: 10.3390/rs13214423
• [Presentation] Retrieval of forest biomass over Shivamogga Forest using Spaceborne POLSAR measurements (2022)
  • Author(s): Rajat, Ram Avtar
  • Organizer: Sustainable Mountain Development Conference, Chandragiri Hills, Kathmandu, Nepal, December 1-3, 2022.
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Book] Conservation, Management and Monitoring of Forest Resources in India (2022)
  • Author(s): Islam, J., Sarkar, P. P., Rahman, A., & Avtar, R.
  • Total Pages: 573
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISBN: 9783030982331